The 1% Rule Calculator
Quick gut-check for whether a deal is worth a deeper look. Does monthly rent equal at least 1% of purchase price?
Inputs
Purchase price + market rent. That's it.
Brown County reality
The classic 1% Rule was written for Midwest rust-belt markets in the 1990s. In modern Brown County, most clean rentals hit 0.6%–0.9%, not 1%+. Don't auto-reject a deal under 1% — it just means you have to verify the cap rate and cash-on-cash actually work.
- • 1.0%+ → likely class-C neighborhood, value-add, or seller carrying back
- • 0.7%–0.9% → realistic Brown County single-family / duplex
- • Under 0.6% → trophy property, betting on appreciation
When the 1% Rule misleads
The 1% Rule is a screen, not a verdict. Three real-world reasons it lies to you in Brown County:
1. Property tax distortion. Wisconsin property taxes are noticeably higher than the national median (about 1.6%–1.9% of assessed value in Brown County depending on municipality). A deal that hits 1% in Florida (where taxes might be 0.8%) does not hit the same net yield as a deal that hits 1% in Howard.
2. Insurance. Wisconsin has cold-weather risks — burst pipes, ice dams, wind. Landlord insurance runs 30%–50% higher than landlord insurance in mild-climate states. Bake it in.
3. Vacancy seasonality. Brown County rental demand peaks May–August and softens October–February. A 1% Rule deal that loses 6 weeks to winter vacancy looks very different from the same deal in a year-round-demand market.
Use the 1% Rule as a 30-second screen. Then run cap rate and cash-on-cash before you make any decision.
Pre-purchase rent estimate?
Send us the address before you close. We'll give you a hard rent number for the property — free.