Technology · Sarasota, FL · Member since 2026 · 36 posts · 7 votes
Hi everyone, I'm David, based in Sarasota, FL.
I've been building NetsPositive, a tool that looks at homes for sale through the lens of a long-term rental investor.
Each week, it runs the 1–4 unit homes for sale in a market and checks whether market rent would cover principal, interest, taxes, insurance, and HOA at 20%, 25%, or 30% down. The target is a 1.0 DSCR, using the taxes a buyer would actually pay rather than simply relying on the current owner's tax bill.
I'm focused on long-term buy-and-hold rentals, not short-term rentals.
Right now, it covers 12 markets: Sarasota-Bradenton-North Port, Tampa, Indianapolis, Houston, Dallas, Springfield, MO, Kansas City, Miami, Bridgeport-Stamford, Fort Walton Beach-Destin, Panama City, and Abilene.
Over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing the results in the Market Trends & Data forum, one market at a time, starting with Sarasota.
I'm especially interested in hearing from investors who own rentals in these markets. If you think my rent estimates are too high or too low, I'd like to hear about it. The goal is to get the numbers as close to reality as possible, not just make properties look good on paper.
Full disclosure: NetsPositive is my company. I'm sharing the data here because I'd like feedback from investors who know these markets.
Looking forward to hearing what other investors are seeing.
Welcome, David! I'm an agent in Miami and would love to see the Miami results when you get there. Two things that tend to break rent-covers-payment math here: HOA dues and insurance vary wildly building to building (older condos especially, with the reserve-study and milestone-inspection rules pushing assessments), and non-homestead taxes reset near the purchase price. Are you pulling actual HOA dues and special assessments per listing, or estimating? Happy to sanity-check Miami rent estimates when you post them.
Thanks, Jenya. HOA dues come from the listing itself, either the fee the listing states or a matching listing, for nearly every condo and townhome; a few hundred use an estimate from the same street. A condo or townhome with no fee on record is left out rather than counted at $0. Special assessments aren't in the data at all, which is a real gap in Miami right now, so check the association before trusting a condo number.
Taxes reset to the purchase price as a non-homestead property, and the seller's bill is used only if it's higher. Insurance is a per-square-foot default with an uplift in flood zones, and Miami-Dade doesn't have its own rate yet, which is one reason I haven't posted Miami. When I do, I'll take you up on that rent check.
Hi @Alacia Mahnken I have a link to the site in my profile, I would love for you to test it out for Tampa/Clrwtr/Stpete markets. Let me know how things look.