Some of the most common questions on investor forums are not about a new deal at all. "Should I sell it or keep it?" "Refi or HELOC?" "Raise the rent or keep a good tenant?" They usually get a page of opinions. REIzer AI now answers them with the math, run on the same engine as our analyzers.
Sell or keep
A family is moving for work. The house is worth $320,000, they owe $190,000 at 3.25% with 25 years left, it would rent for $2,200 a month, and the full mortgage payment with taxes and insurance is $1,650.
Selling nets about $107,600 after 7% selling costs and the loan payoff. Keeping it barely cash flows: about $44 a month in the first year, once vacancy, management, repairs and capital expenses are set aside. But the loan pays down about $5,000 a year, and at 3% appreciation the house gains about $9,600 a year. Over five years that works out to roughly 11.9% a year on the $107,600 they would otherwise walk away with. Selling wins only if that money can earn more than that somewhere else. If prices stay flat, keeping returns about 5.5% a year, and that is the number to weigh against the alternatives.
REIzer names every assumption it used, such as vacancy, management, repairs and growth, so you can change any of them. Tax on a sale is not in the math, and the rules are different if the house was your home. That part is a question for a CPA.
Cash-out refi or HELOC
A rental is worth about $400,000 and has $210,000 left on a 3.5% loan. The owner needs $60,000 for the next down payment and has two quotes: a cash-out refinance at 7% and a HELOC at 8.5%.
The refi looks cheaper by its rate, but it replaces the whole loan. The $210,000 at 3.5% moves to 7% as well, which costs about $7,350 a year on its own. The monthly payment goes from about $1,051 to $1,833. Counting the extra interest and 2% closing costs over five years, the $60,000 effectively costs about 21.7% a year. The HELOC leaves the first mortgage alone and costs about $425 a month, interest only. Its cost is its rate, and each point the rate rises adds about $50 a month.
Raise the rent or keep the tenant
A tenant of six years pays $1,500 and market rent is $1,800. If they stay, the raise is worth $3,600 over the next year. If they leave, and the unit sits empty for a month with about $900 of turnover costs, the owner still comes out about $900 ahead over the year, and the turnover earns itself back in about nine months. A halfway raise to $1,650 pays off unless the chance of the tenant leaving is above about 70%.
Pay down the mortgage or invest
Putting $50,000 against a $150,000 loan at 6.5% with 25 years left pays it off 158 months sooner, about 13 years, and saves about $110,000 of interest. If the lender recasts the loan instead, the payment drops by about $338 a month. Every dollar paid down earns exactly 6.5%, guaranteed, but you cannot get it back without borrowing. Invested at 9% instead, the same $50,000 grows to about $118,000 in ten years, against about $94,000 of value from paying down. Whether 9% is realistic after vacancy, effort and risk is the real question.
How to use it
Ask the way you would ask another investor, with your own numbers. If something is missing, like the loan balance or a lender's quote, REIzer asks for it instead of guessing. Without numbers you still get a straight answer with the trade-offs.
The decision stays yours. REIzer shows what each option nets and what would change the answer. Results are software estimates, not financial, tax or legal advice.