Buy box calculator
Will a fund buy this house?
Fifteen checks from the desk's screen for Texas single-family rental fund buyers, built from what those buyers have asked for. Type your numbers, watch the grade move, and see an illustrative ceiling for a fund desk and a flip desk. Nothing leaves your browser.
Verdict
In the box.
Every check clears a typical SFR fund box. Send it.
15 pass0 watch0 fail
- All-in cost
- $297,000
- All-in to ARV
- 87.4%
- Gross yield
- 9.5%
- Fund ceiling
- $301,000
- 92% ARV less repairs
- Flip ceiling
- $226,000
- 70% ARV less repairs
- Your ask vs fund ceiling
- $16,000 under
- Your spread
- $20,000
Illustrative. Every fund publishes its own box and moves it. Review is not an offer to purchase, assign, or fund.
The file
The fifteen checks
- Pass
Property type
- Your file
- Single-family detached
- The box
- Single-family detached
The core product every SFR fund buys.
- Pass
Year built
- Your file
- 2016
- The box
- 2000 or newer (1985+ case by case)
Funds underwrite capex for 10+ years. Pre-1985 roofs, plumbing and electrical fail their inspection model.
- Pass
Living area
- Your file
- 1,850 sq ft
- The box
- 1,250–3,000 sq ft
Below 1,250 the rent does not cover the turn cost. Above 3,000 the rent-to-price ratio thins out.
- Pass
Beds and baths
- Your file
- 4 bed / 2 bath
- The box
- 3+ bed, 2+ bath
The rental box is built around the family tenant. Two-bedroom houses and one-bath houses do not lease to that tenant.
- Pass
Price band
- Your file
- $285,000
- The box
- $240,000–$360,000 in Forney
Where the funds actually buy in Forney. A price up to ten percent below or above the band still gets a look.
- Pass
All-in cost to ARV
- Your file
- 87.4%
- The box
- 88% or less (95% ceiling)
Ask plus repairs against after-repair value. Rental funds pay closer to retail than flippers, but they still need equity on day one.
- Pass
Repair budget
- Your file
- $12,000 (4% of ARV)
- The box
- Under $25,000 and 10% of ARV
Funds want a paint-and-carpet turn, not a gut. Heavy rehab goes to flip desks, who pay less.
- Pass
Gross yield
- Your file
- 9.5% (0.79% rent-to-price monthly)
- The box
- 7.0% or better (6.0% floor)
Annual rent over all-in cost. This is the number the acquisitions model lives on. Below six and the file does not clear committee.
- Pass
HOA dues
- Your file
- $45 / month
- The box
- $75 / month or less
Dues come straight off net yield. Many funds also screen for rental caps in the HOA documents.
- Pass
Occupancy
- Your file
- Vacant
- The box
- Vacant at closing
Clean turn, fund's own lease.
- Pass
Flood zone
- Your file
- Zone X (minimal)
- The box
- Zone X
Insurable at normal rates.
- Pass
Pool
- Your file
- No
- The box
- No pool
Liability and maintenance. Some funds fill them in; most price them down or pass.
- Pass
Water and sewer
- Your file
- City water and sewer
- The box
- City water and sewer
Septic and well systems are a maintenance line the rental model does not carry. Landlord buyers will, funds mostly will not.
- Pass
Days to close
- Your file
- 21 days
- The box
- 14 days or more
Fund desks run inspection, title and committee. Under two weeks only works with a buyer already in the file.
- Pass
Fund demand in the submarket
- Your file
- Forney: 94/100 (simulated index)
- The box
- 60+ on the desk's DFW index
The reference fund market east of Dallas: Devonshire, Windmill Farms, Gateway. New-build and 2010s stock.
How the box works
Hard stops
Property type, year built, beds and baths, price band, all-in to ARV, gross yield, flood zone. Miss one and the file is out, whatever else it has going for it.
Watch items
Size, repairs, HOA, occupancy, pool, utilities, close date, submarket demand. A fund takes these case by case. The desk answers them before the file goes out.
Two ceilings
The desk's illustrative ceilings: about 92% of ARV less repairs for a rental fund, about 70% less repairs for a flip desk. Neither is a published fund number. If your ask sits between them, the fund route is your spread.
Data: the thresholds behind these checks as JSON.
Straight answers on the box
- What is an institutional buy box?
- The written criteria a fund's acquisitions team uses to say yes or no in minutes: property type, year built, size, bedrooms, price band, rent yield, repair level, flood zone, HOA. If the file fits the box it goes to committee. If it does not, nobody calls you back. Every fund has its own box and most of them move it quarterly.
- What gross yield do single-family rental funds need?
- Annual rent divided by all-in cost (your price plus repairs). No fund publishes its hurdle, so this is the desk's own screen: seven percent or better passes, six on newer product in a submarket a fund already owns gets a look, and below six the model does not clear. For scale, ATTOM's 2026 report put Tarrant County's potential gross rental yield at 7.3 percent.
- Do funds buy houses that need work?
- Light work, yes: paint, carpet, appliances, a roof if it is priced in. A gut rehab goes to a flip desk, which pays around seventy percent of after-repair value less repairs. That is why the calculator shows both ceilings.
- Is the ceiling an offer?
- No. It is the typical number a fund desk would clear on a file like yours, so you know whether your ask is in the conversation before you send it. Review is not an offer to purchase, assign, or fund. Nothing is sold until a buyer is in writing.