You don't need a finance degree to manage rental properties well. But you do need to know four numbers. These metrics tell you whether your properties are making money, losing money, or just barely breaking even — and most small landlords don't track any of them.
1. Net Operating Income (NOI)
This is the big one. NOI is your total rental income minus all operating expenses (maintenance, insurance, utilities, management fees). It does not include mortgage payments. If your NOI is positive, your property is generating income. If it's negative, you have a problem.
Why it matters: NOI is the foundation for every other metric. If you track nothing else, track this.
2. Cap Rate
Cap rate (capitalization rate) is your NOI divided by the property's current market value, expressed as a percentage. A property generating $12,000/year in NOI with a market value of $200,000 has a cap rate of 6%.
Why it matters: Cap rate lets you compare properties objectively. A 4% cap rate might be fine in a high-appreciation market. An 8% cap rate in a stable market is a strong cash producer.
3. Cash-on-Cash Return
This measures the actual cash you earn relative to the cash you invested (your down payment and closing costs). If you put $50,000 into a property and it nets you $5,000/year after all expenses and mortgage payments, your cash-on-cash return is 10%.
Why it matters: This is the number that tells you whether your money is working hard enough — or if it would perform better elsewhere.
4. Vacancy Rate
Vacancy rate is the percentage of your units that are unoccupied. If you own 10 units and 1 is vacant, your vacancy rate is 10%.
Why it matters: Every vacant unit is lost income. Tracking vacancy over time helps you spot seasonal patterns, problem properties, or units that need attention.
How Crumble Helps You Track These
Most landlords don't track these metrics because the math is tedious and the data is scattered across spreadsheets and bank accounts. Crumble's Performance Pulse does the math for you — once you've entered your rent and expense data, the dashboard calculates NOI, cap rate, cash-on-cash return, and vacancy rate across your portfolio.
You still enter the numbers. Crumble crunches them and displays them on a clean, interactive page you actually want to look at. No formulas. No broken spreadsheet cells. Just four numbers that tell you exactly where you stand.
That's the difference between owning property and actually building wealth.
