CALCULATION METHODS · UPDATED OCTOBER 2, 2026

The assumptions belong beside the answer.

A useful calculation explains its inputs, its cash basis and its limits. These are the principles behind OneDEAL’s free tools.

Your inputs are assumptions until verified.

OneDEAL currently uses manual inputs. It does not verify listing data, appraisals, rents, loan eligibility or property condition. Use current, scheduled and stabilized rent deliberately; an unknown expense is not confirmed zero. Compare written terms with the calculator’s payment and timing assumptions.

Educational results are not an investment recommendation, a loan approval or individualized tax advice. Calculating does not send your property details to a lender.

Monthly budget & debt planner

The starting 50/30/20 allocation is a guideline based on monthly income after taxes and payroll deductions; it does not fill actual spending. Remaining monthly cash = take-home income − essentials − other debt payments − flexible spending − savings − irregular yearly bills / 12.

This is a monthly average, not a bill-date cash-flow calendar. Include every cost once. A surplus is unallocated cash, not guaranteed discretionary income.

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Personal & auto loan payment calculator

For a car purchase, modeled loan = purchase price − entered down payment + entered taxes and fees selected for financing. Cash-paid charges add to cash due, not loan principal. Unknown optional amounts stay unknown and are excluded from the preliminary estimate. Total modeled purchase outlay = scheduled loan payments + entered down payment + cash-paid charges; each amount is counted once. For direct loan entry, the starting principal is supplied by the user, and the separate fee field covers only cash-paid fees. A fixed payment repays the principal and monthly interest over the entered term. At zero interest, payment is principal divided by months.

Assumes equal monthly payments, fixed interest and full amortization. Uses an estimated or contractual note rate, not fee-inclusive APR. No automatic local tax calculation, trade-in/payoff model or ownership-cost forecast. The car view accepts sales tax and other charges as separate dollar amounts. A direct loan amount can include financed costs but does not identify them separately. Excludes unentered costs, daily-interest differences, late fees, balloons, prepayment and variable rates. Does not establish affordability, qualification or APR. For student loans it does not model deferment, subsidies, income-driven payments or forgiveness.

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Debt payoff & strategy calculator

The baseline keeps the entered payment on each debt with no rollover. Extra-payment, avalanche and snowball scenarios use the same monthly budget and roll freed payments forward. Extra-payment mode splits remaining money proportionally across balances; avalanche targets the highest rate and snowball the smallest balance. Total spent is principal plus interest and modeled fees. Savings compare completed payoff totals. An optional credit-line transfer includes setup and sweep fees, and compares income routing with direct repayment on that same line.

Start with one complete debt; unfinished optional accounts are excluded and flagged. Direct repayment uses constant rates and monthly interest, with no new charges. The credit-line model uses 30-day months and a daily rate of APR/360. These are hypothetical estimates, not changing card minimums, exact lender schedules, affordability checks or credit offers. Missing or unfinished comparisons cannot establish savings. A HELOC can put the home at risk. Estimates stop at 600 months.

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Savings goal calculator

The monthly rate is (1 + APY)^(1/12) − 1. Deposits happen at each month-end. The required monthly deposit is rounded up to the next cent; the resulting modeled balance can slightly exceed the target.

Assumes a constant APY, uninterrupted monthly deposits, no withdrawals, fees or taxes. Savings yields can change. A displayed zero deposit means existing savings reach the nominal target under these assumptions; it is not a withdrawal recommendation.

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Investment growth & fee calculator

Each month applies the annual-equivalent return and proportional asset fee to the existing balance, then adds the contribution. Fee impact is the gap versus the same scenario without fees, including forgone growth. Purchasing power divides the final nominal balance by (1 + inflation)^years.

Constant returns cannot represent market volatility or sequence risk. Excludes taxes, withdrawals, contribution limits, transaction fees and account eligibility. The result is a scenario, not a guaranteed return or a retirement-readiness assessment.

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Business break-even calculator

Contribution per unit = price − variable cost. Break-even units = fixed costs / contribution, rounded up to a whole unit. Modeled operating profit = planned units × contribution − fixed costs.

Single product or constant product mix, stable price and costs, all modeled units sold. Excludes income tax, debt payments, startup purchases and timing differences between sales and collections. Operating break-even does not establish financing eligibility or cash runway.

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Advanced budget, debt and velocity-banking comparisons

The one-income starting view divides entered monthly take-home income into a 50% needs and required-payments guideline, 30% wants, and 20% savings and extra debt payments. Income is after taxes and payroll deductions; amounts already withheld from pay are outside this split. Amounts are rounded to cents, with the final bucket keeping the total equal to entered income. These suggested allocations never fill actual spending or establish remaining cash, affordability, reserve targets or eligibility for further analysis. Add actual spending in Advanced to calculate your own budget.

Quick totals and detailed rows are alternative input sources; they are never added together. Included blank amounts remain unknown. Blank planned spending retains the current amount, while an entered zero is an intentional zero. Income is after payroll deductions. Exclude amounts already withheld from pay or counted in another category. Linked debt payments replace the manual debt category.

Payment frequencies convert to monthly averages: weekly × 52/12, every two weeks × 26/12, twice monthly × 2, quarterly ÷ 3, semiannual ÷ 6 and annual ÷ 12. Bill reserves are separate monthly allocations. The chosen emergency-cash target uses essentials, debt payments and bill reserves; it is not a universal recommendation. Monthly averages do not establish day-by-day liquidity.

Debt payoff adds APR/12 interest to each balance, pays every fixed-dollar minimum, then allocates extra to the highest rate (avalanche) or smallest remaining balance (snowball). Freed payments roll forward in those two strategies. The fixed-payment baseline has neither extra payments nor rollover. Final payments are capped. Rates remain constant, no new charges or fees occur, and estimates stop at 600 months. A temporarily growing combined balance is retained because repaying an expensive debt may lower later interest. Incomplete or unlinked budgets cannot verify affordability.

The HELOC comparison uses one existing line and the same income, spending, protected savings and extra-payment budget for direct repayment, reserve sweeps and full-income sweeps. The regular-payment baseline intentionally omits the extra contribution. Protected savings and unused surplus stay outside the line. The model uses 30-day months and APR/360 daily interest, one income day, one recurring-spending day, reserve bills at the end of the chosen cycle, and regular payments at month-end. It groups all bill reserves into that cycle; this is not an exact bill calendar or lender statement.

Sweeps temporarily reduce the loan and redraw for expenses. Added sweep fees are financed. Redraws must stay within the credit limit and entered draw period. Excess deposits remain cash when the line reaches zero. Permanent payoff requires both a zero loan balance and enough cash to cover accrued future bills. A stopped or incomplete model cannot claim a saving. Interest on cash, taxes, lender-specific accrual, variable-rate paths and post-draw repayment terms are excluded. The rate stress adds two percentage points to the full-income-sweep scenario, capped at 100%.

CFPB HELOC guidance explains redraw periods and variable rates. The line may be restricted, and the home secures the debt. Modeled savings do not establish that a sweep is available or suitable.

Calculator guidance uses explicit rules and entered numbers. It is not a live AI response. The optional AI-review brief is copied only when requested; the site does not automatically send it to an AI provider.

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Rental cash flow, coverage and cash invested

Monthly cash flow
Modeled income after vacancy and operating costs, less the applicable debt payments.
DSCR
Modeled net operating income divided by debt service. OneDEAL’s rental analysis includes its entered capital-reserve allowances in costs; confirm the actual lender’s NOI or rent-to-PITIA method for DSCR.
Cash-on-cash
Annual modeled cash flow divided by the disclosed initial cash basis. Review the down payment, closing costs, loan fees, cash rehab and initial reserves rather than assuming the denominator is only the down payment.

The property investor quick check uses collected monthly rent after vacancy and one entered expense/reserve total. It models one fixed-rate, fully amortizing loan. It preserves negative income and returns “not applicable” for DSCR when there is no debt. It does not transfer assumptions into the full analyzer.

Read the rental worked example

BRRRR, second loans and uncertain exits

A modeled refinance can be constrained by both appraised-value LTV and income-supported debt service. The smaller applicable limit matters. Subtract debt payoff and refinance costs before treating proceeds as cash returned.

Seller-financing scenarios need both loan payments and a separate look at any balloon or deferral. Flip and BRRRR exits depend on the entered resale value or appraisal; an unverified value is not market evidence.

Work through refinance cash

A score is a heuristic, not a forecast.

The investment analyzer’s score summarizes its rules and your selected assumptions. When critical information is incomplete or unverified, the confidence rules limit the score to at most 85, and the raw score may be lower. An 85 is a ceiling, not a passing grade or assurance that an investment is safe.

Read the cash-flow, debt, cash-invested and confidence details together. The property investor quick check does not issue a score or fabricate results for other strategies.

Learn to read the full result

Comparing two loan offers

Both offers provide the same entered cash proceeds, before separately paid cash fees, and are compared after the same number of scheduled monthly payments. Fees added to the loan increase its starting note balance. Cash-paid points use that starting balance. Enter financed points as their quoted dollar amount in financed fees, with zero cash-paid points for that same charge.

Monthly interest is the remaining balance multiplied by the fixed annual note rate divided by twelve. An initial interest-only period is included in the total term; principal then amortizes over the remaining months. A balloon is due after the entered month’s scheduled payment. The comparison date cannot extend past either loan’s term or balloon; no refinance is assumed. Payment timelines disclose known later changes and the balloon principal even when they fall after the chosen comparison date.

Mortgage insurance uses the entered monthly amount and duration, while the loan is outstanding. The tool does not infer cancellation eligibility or lender rules. One-time premiums belong with the appropriate cash or financed fee. Financing cost equals accumulated interest, all entered origination fees, mortgage insurance and the entered comparison-date exit fee. Each fee counts once. Principal repayment, remaining debt and cash to pay off the loan are shown separately. Total modeled cash paid including payoff, minus the common proceeds, reconciles to financing cost.

The selected priority can compare financing cost, peak scheduled monthly payment during the chosen period, cash-paid loan fees now, or remaining principal. Peak monthly payment includes entered mortgage insurance but excludes the separate balloon payoff. These are mathematical comparisons, not a universal best-loan recommendation.

The model excludes variable rates, taxes, property insurance, HOA, daily accrued payoff interest, discounting and tax effects. It is not an APR calculation. Confirm your actual offer terms, including any prepayment charge for the selected date.

Compare your written offers

Promotional balance-transfer comparison

The separate debt-payoff comparison models one selected debt, using the same explicitly allocated monthly payment for keeping the original debt and accepting the entered transfer terms. That payment cannot exceed the selected debt’s existing payment plus the shared extra amount, so the other debts retain their payments.

The transfer amount is limited by the requested amount, the original balance and the available limit including the financed transfer fee. The fee is the larger of the entered percentage or minimum charge. Any amount left on the original account retains its original rate. The promotional rate applies for the entered whole number of months, followed by the entered regular rate beginning the next month.

Enter fixed-dollar payment floors for the transfer account and, if a balance remains, the original account. Each month, those floors are paid first, with remaining money going to the highest active annual rate; ties go to the original account. Freed payments stay within the same budget. Interest and fees are rounded to cents and final payments are capped. No new purchases, variable minimum-payment formula, late fees or unentered rate change is assumed.

The result discloses the balance at the promotion’s end. Both paths must reach payoff within 600 months to show lifetime savings. Otherwise, costs through the cutoff and remaining balances are disclosed without a total-savings claim. Enter written terms; this model does not retrieve an offer or establish eligibility.

Compare debt and transfer scenarios

Editable plans and reviewed handoffs

The budget, debt-payoff and loan-comparison tools can save named input snapshots in this browser or download them as editable OneDEAL JSON plan files. Files preserve entered values, including blanks and explicit zeroes. Results and verified-offer claims are not stored. Opening a plan first presents a review; loading requires an explicit action and a fresh calculation. Up to ten plans can be kept in the browser across these tools. Browser copies can be lost when site data is cleared.

A budget-to-debt handoff requires a complete budget, a linked debt inventory and an extra payment no larger than unallocated cash. Savings and bill reserves stay within the source budget’s existing allocations. The receiving tool displays the dated snapshot and asks before replacing its inputs. This is a planning handoff, not verification of a bank balance or future affordability.

Other planning tools

  • Mortgage payment: separates principal and interest from entered taxes, insurance, PMI and HOA.
  • Amortization: applies monthly principal payments and compares extra-payment results with the baseline schedule.
  • Debt yield: annual NOI divided by principal. A chosen target is not a universal lending standard.
  • Hard money costs: assumes full funding on day one and monthly interest-only payments; staged draws and extension fees require separate treatment.
  • 1031 dates: models standard delayed-exchange timing and requires the applicable return date to confirm the modeled receipt deadline. No tax savings or eligibility conclusion is calculated.

Questions or a suspected calculation error?

Contact support@onedealunderwriter.com with the tool, assumptions and result you expected. Use a hypothetical example where possible and omit account numbers and other sensitive information.

Read our sourcing and correction standards