Home › About
About the developer
The person behind the tools
I am an independent developer and I build small, fast tools for real-estate investors. DSCRRadar is one of them. Run a DSCR loan, check a cap rate, score a market on the Investor Yield Index. No account, no pop-ups, no sales call before a calculator loads.
One job per tool, done fast
Most real-estate sites bury a simple calculator under ads and a lender pitch dressed up as advice. I go the other way. Each tool does one thing and loads right away.
The DSCR calculator tells you in seconds whether a rental clears the 1.2 line a lender wants. The Investor Yield Index scores 18 metros on live Zillow home values and rents, so you can see which markets actually cash-flow at today's rate, not a fantasy. The numbers come from public data and a method I document in full, not a black box.
I built the whole site on my own and I work on it full time. That is the only reason the tools stay quick and a feature request from a stranger gets read the same day.
What works, and what does not
Not every tool earns its place. Some I built, watched nobody use, and quietly pulled down. The ones that stay are the ones people come back to.
The Index is honest to a fault. At 6.8% financing, only 4 of the 18 metros I track clear the 1.2 DSCR line. I could hide that. I would rather show you which markets come closest, and where a larger down payment or a rate buydown tips a deal, than sell you a dream that loses money every month.
So I would rather hear what is broken than guess at it. If a number looks off, or you want a metro added, or a tool would save you a step, send it over. Small fixes usually ship the same week, and the bigger ideas go on a list I actually work through.
Part of a bigger toolkit
DSCRRadar is one site in a set of tools I build under zovo.one. Same idea every time. One person, fast tools, no fluff. The calculators here stay free, and they always will. There is no paywall on the math. Two options if you want more than that.
Pro, one payment
Back the tools. A small thank-you for the work. It covers the server bill, pushes your requests up the list, gets you new tools before they go public, and keeps the whole site free of ads.
- Your feature requests near the top of the queue
- Early access to tools still in testing
- No subscription, nothing to cancel
Lifetime, best value
Every tool I build, for good. One payment covers this site and everything else I make on zovo.one, with no monthly fee and no per-tool charge.
- Lifetime access to every tool on zovo.one, the ones live now and the ones not yet shipped
- The zovo.one Chrome extension and BeLikeNative, included
- Your requests jump the queue, one payment kept for good
Tools, code, and a real inbox
The tools, the membership, and the rest of what I make all live on zovo.one. The code I can share sits on GitHub. Got a question before you spend anything? Email me, and a real person, me, writes back.
How the Investor Yield Index is built
Every metro gets a 0 to 100 score from four parts, weighted by how much each one drives a real cash-flow decision. The same weights and rate apply to every market, so the scores compare on equal terms.
| Metric | What it measures | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Cap rate | Net operating income divided by price. The unlevered yield. | 0.30 |
| DSCR | Net operating income divided by annual debt service. Does the rent cover the loan. | 0.30 |
| Gross yield | Annual rent divided by price. A fast rent-to-price read. | 0.20 |
| Cash-on-cash | Pre-tax cash flow divided by cash invested. Your real return after financing. | 0.20 |
Every market is modeled at 25% down, a 40% operating-expense load, a 30-year payoff, and a prevailing 6.8% mortgage rate. Lenders want a DSCR of at least 1.2. Home values and rents are live from Zillow public data, refreshed weekly. The mortgage rate is a current market estimate. Read the Index as a relative ranking of which markets come closest, not a quote on a specific house.
Try the tools first
The best way to decide if any of this is worth it is to use the thing. Start with the DSCR calculator or the Investor Yield Index, then come back if you want the rest.