What's the difference between Buy, Own, Rent and Cohost analyses?

The four types at a glance

You pick the type after you enter the address, by clicking Select analysis type › in the search box, or with the pills at the top of the full-page form at /create-analysis, where they read Buy, Rent, Owned and Co-Host. The type decides which costs BNBCalc models and which returns it shows:

The revenue estimate and the comps are worked out the same way for all four, so the type only changes what happens after the revenue comes in.

Buy

Choose Buy when you're deciding whether to purchase a home. For a US home, unless you've saved your own default, the analysis starts with 20% down on a 30-year loan at 6% interest, closing costs of 3% of the price and property tax of 0.99% of the price a year. Homes in lower-income countries start with a lower rate and property tax. Make sure to swap in your real loan terms before you trust the cash flow: click the pencil next to Mortgage & Taxes in the Profit box, and if you'd pay cash, set Percent Down to 100%.

A Buy analysis is the most complete of the four, with the Short Term Rental and Long Term Rental grades at the top, cap rate and cash-on-cash return, and for US homes the DSCR and the STR Tax Calculator (USA).

Own

Own is for a home that's already yours, so the question is what it would make as a short-term rental rather than whether to buy it. When you choose Own, an Is it paid off? switch appears, and it starts switched on. If you still have a mortgage, switch it off and enter the Mortgage length, Years remaining on mortgage, Down payment % and Interest rate %, so BNBCalc models the payments you've got left instead of a fresh loan. Make sure to do this when you create the analysis, since the years left on your loan can't be changed afterwards. If you ran it as paid off by mistake, run the address again with the switch off.

You still get the letter grades, the long-term rental comparison and, for US homes, the tax section.

Rent (rental arbitrage)

Choose Rent if you'd lease the home from a landlord and list it on Airbnb, which is usually called rental arbitrage. You enter the monthly rent instead of a price, and the analysis changes in three ways:

• the Profit box subtracts your Net Effective Rent, the rent after any free months your landlord gives you, instead of a mortgage;
• Cash Investment counts furnishing plus Setup Costs, an application fee and a security deposit;
• the returns show Payback Period Days, the number of days of cash flow it takes to earn back what you put in, in place of a cap rate.

Keep in mind that a Rent analysis assumes your lease lets you sublet. Plenty of leases don't, so check with the landlord before you sign anything.

Cohost

Choose Cohost if you'd manage the home for its owner in exchange for a share of the revenue. There's no price or mortgage, so the page shows the revenue, the cleaning and supplies, your Cohost commission (20% of revenue to start) and the Owner payout that's left for the owner. If you're pitching an owner, that payout is the number they'll care about most.

Picking the right type

If you're unsure, match the type to the money you'd put in: Buy if you'd borrow or pay cash to purchase, Own if the home is already yours, Rent if you'd sign a lease, and Cohost if all you're putting in is your time.

An analysis keeps its type once it's created, though. So if you want to compare two strategies for the same address, such as buying it versus renting it, run the address twice with different types and open both side by side.