Louisiana rental property calculator

The same underwriting engine as everywhere else on Caprately, with Louisiana's actual carrying costs already filled in — so the verdict reflects what the property really costs to own here, not a national average.

Effective property tax
0.68%
0.62% published median · well below the national average
Landlord insurance
2.50%
of value per year, among the 5 highest in the country
vs. national average
+$417
per month on a $300,000 rental

What a rental costs to carry in Louisiana

Property tax and insurance only — before the mortgage, before management, before a single repair. These are the two expenses that change most when you cross a state line, and the ones most calculators estimate from one national percentage.

Purchase priceProperty taxInsuranceMonthly carry
$150,000$85/mo$313/mo$398/mo
$250,000$142/mo$521/mo$663/mo
$400,000$227/mo$833/mo$1,060/mo
$600,000$341/mo$1,250/mo$1,591/mo

Louisiana's published effective rate is 0.62% on owner-occupied housing. Rentals usually lose the homestead exemption — and some states assess them at a higher ratio outright — so these figures apply a uniform 10% uplift, giving 0.68%.

Property tax: Tax Foundation, from 2024 American Community Survey data (2024). Insurance is the rougher of the two — premiums are published in dollars rather than as a share of value, so treat it as an order of magnitude and get a real quote. County variation inside a state is often wider than the gap between two states, and the assessor's record is the only number that finally counts.

Interactive

Underwrite a rental in Louisiana

Every estimate below already carries Louisiana's tax and insurance rates. Change any assumption — or paste a listing — and the full analysis updates instantly.

Analyzing this as

Rent it out to a tenantDoes the rent cover the costs? You get a verdict.
Live in it myselfBetter off buying, or renting? You get a year.Switch

Import a deal

Use a property that's for sale. A “for rent” listing has a monthly rent but no purchase price, so there's nothing to buy and nothing to work out.

A link fills in the address. Copied text fills in the price and size too, plus the Rent Zestimate if the page shows one. Whatever it misses, you can type — it's never more than a number or two.

Nothing is scraped: the page is read in your browser, and only the address is ever sent to us.

Results update automatically as you change any value in this form.

The two numbers that decide it

You’re buying a property and renting it out to a tenant. Enter what it costs and what a tenant would pay — the rent is money coming in to you, not rent you pay. Everything else has a default you can change below.

No realistic rent makes this work as a rental. At $285,000 it would need $3,125/mo to clear every threshold, and homes at this price usually rent for $1,887–$3,089/mo. At $2,488/mo — the middle of that range — the numbers work up to about $227,062. The gap is the finding. It isn’t a rent to type in.

Property type

A detached house: you insure the whole structure and reserve for the whole structure.

Worth the two seconds — property tax runs from 0.29% of value in Hawaii to 1.88% in New Jersey, which is the difference between a deal and a loss.

Adjust the assumptions25% down · 6.67% · size not set

Louisiana — property tax 0.68%/yr and insurance 2.5%/yr of value, upkeep reserves priced off the rent. State-level averages for screening — verify the actual tax bill and get a real quote.

Management, vacancy, and closing costs use standard rules of thumb. Switch to to fine-tune every assumption.

Fail

Doesn't meet your rental criteria

Max workable price
~$264,000
You’re asking
$285,000

The price is about $21,000 above the most you could pay and still pass.

First to fail: DSCR — 1.07x against a minimum of 1.20x.

Where it stands

  • Monthly cash flow $102/mo vs min $0/mo
  • DSCR 1.07x vs min 1.20x
  • Cash-on-cash return 1.6% vs min 4.0%
  • Break-even occupancy 91.5% vs max 90.0%

Biggest uncertainty: the rent

  • At $2,900/moFAIL
  • At $3,124/moFAIL
  • Minimum rent required$3,125/mo

Every other input here is a price or a rate you can look up. The rent is usually an estimate, and it is the input the answer moves most on — check it against two real rentals nearby before you act on any of this.

Second uncertainty: the property tax

This fails even with no property tax at all, so the tax estimate isn't what's wrong.

Max workable price is based on your assumptions and screening criteria. It is not an appraisal, and not an estimate of market value. Assumes 25% down at 6.67% over 30 years, with tax and insurance at Louisiana rates. Change any of it under “Adjust the assumptions”.

If the rent comes in low

It only works at the top of the range. That's a deal resting on the rent landing at its best plausible number, which is a thin place to be.

It starts working once the rent reaches $3,125/mo.

ScenarioRentCash flowVerdict
Conservative$2,610-$123/moFAIL
Base(yours)$2,900$102/moFAIL
Optimistic$3,190$324/moPASS

The range is your rent plus or minus 10%, which is roughly how far a rent estimate is routinely wrong. Import a listing with market data configured and this becomes the range the actual comps support. No confidence percentage is shown, because nothing here has a validated error rate to base one on.

Income covers the loan 1.07x over — lenders and this screen want 1.20x.

Cash flow is positive at $102/mo, but the cushion is thin: one vacancy or one major repair puts the property in the red.

Property

$285,000 purchase · 25% down · 6.67% / 30yr

Gross monthly rent

$2,900

1.02% of price/mo

Monthly cash flow

$102

Show the formula

effective rent − operating expenses − mortgage payment

$2,755 − $1,278 − $1,375 = $102/mo

NOI (annual)

$17,724

Show the formula

(effective rent − operating expenses) × 12

($2,755 − $1,278) × 12 = $17,724

Cap rate

6.2%

Show the formula

annual NOI ÷ purchase price

$17,724 ÷ $285,000 = 6.2%

Cash-on-cash return

1.6%

Show the formula

annual cash flow ÷ total cash invested

$1,224 ÷ $76,950 = 1.6%

DSCR

1.07x

Show the formula

monthly NOI ÷ mortgage payment

$1,477 ÷ $1,375 = 1.07x

Break-even occupancy

91.5%

Show the formula

(operating expenses + mortgage payment) ÷ gross rent

($1,278 + $1,375) ÷ $2,900 = 91.5%

Loan amount

$213,750

Show the formula

purchase price − down payment

$285,000 − $71,250 (25%) = $213,750

Monthly P&I payment

$1,375

Show the formula

amortized loan payment (rate ÷ 12, term × 12)

$213,750 at 6.67% over 30 yrs = $1,375/mo

Annualized return if you sold in year 10

13.1%a year

Counts the $76,950 you put in up front, 10 years of cash flow, and the $191,904 left after paying off the loan and 7% in selling costs. Unlike cash-on-cash, it accounts for when each dollar arrives — which is what makes it comparable to a return quoted on a stock or a bond.

This is the least certain number on the page. Most of it comes from the sale, and the sale assumes 3.5% appreciation every year for 10 years. Change that one assumption and this figure moves further than any of the ones above.

Show the cash flows

the rate at which every flow below discounts back to zero

  • Now-$76,950
  • Year 1$1,224
  • Year 2$1,909
  • Year 3$2,617
  • Year 4$3,350
  • Year 5$4,109
  • Year 6$4,893
  • Year 7$5,704
  • Year 8$6,543
  • Year 9$7,410
  • Year 10$200,212

Year 10 includes the sale. Nothing here is money in your pocket until the property actually sells.

Projected equity growth over 10 years

Equity grows from $83,538 in year 1 to $220,046 in year 10, driven by loan paydown and property appreciation.

Equity by year
YearEquity
1$83,538
2$96,334
3$109,662
4$123,546
5$138,010
6$153,083
7$168,793
8$185,168
9$202,242
10$220,046

Make this one work

Worked backwards from your numbers — the two levers that bring it inside the criteria.

Max offer that passes

$264,000

$21,000 below your $285,000 — negotiate down

Rent needed to pass

$3,125/mo

$225/mo more than your $2,900 — you'd need a rent bump

“Deal” means it clears every screening bar — positive cash flow, DSCR 1.2+, and a 4%+ cash-on-cash return. Holding your other assumptions fixed.

Stress test

This deal already fails the criteria — the shocks below show how much deeper it goes.

  • Interest rate +1%

    -$43/mo cash flow

    FLIPSFAIL
  • Rent comes in 10% lower

    -$174/mo cash flow

    FLIPSFAIL
  • Vacancy hits 15%

    -$188/mo cash flow

    FLIPSFAIL
  • Operating costs +15%

    -$90/mo cash flow

    FLIPSFAIL
  • A $15k surprise repair

    cash-on-cash 1.3%

    FAIL

Each shock changes one assumption and re-runs the entire engine. Everything else stays exactly as you set it.

Your deals

Saved deals live in this browser. Share links carry the full analysis — send one to a partner and they see exactly what you see.

Louisiana rental property questions

What are property taxes on a rental property in Louisiana?
Louisiana's median effective property tax rate is 0.62% of market value per year. Rentals typically lose the homestead exemption, so Caprately screens them at about 0.68%. That works out to roughly $171 a month on a $300,000 property. Your actual bill comes from the county assessor and can differ significantly.
How much is landlord insurance in Louisiana?
Budget around 2.50% of the property's value per year in Louisiana, or about $625 a month on a $300,000 rental. Landlord (DP-3) policies usually cost more than a comparable homeowner's policy, and coastal or wildfire exposure can push the premium well past this estimate.
Is Louisiana a good state for rental property?
No state is good or bad on its own — what matters is the relationship between price and rent in the specific market you are buying in. What Louisiana does change is the carrying cost: at 0.68% tax and 2.50% insurance, a $300,000 rental carries $796 a month before the mortgage. Run the actual property through the calculator to see whether the rent covers it.

States that carry like Louisiana

Closest total tax-and-insurance load to Louisiana's.

All 50 states and D.C. →

Understand the numbers

What each metric means, what counts as good, and what it hides.

  • Cap rate

    Cap rate is a property's annual net operating income divided by its purchase price — the yield the building throws off before any financing.

  • DSCR

    DSCR is net operating income divided by debt service — how many times over the property's income covers its loan payment.

  • Cash-on-cash return

    Cash-on-cash return is a year of cash flow divided by the cash you actually put in — down payment, closing costs, and rehab.

  • The 1% rule

    The 1% rule says a rental should collect at least 1% of its purchase price in monthly rent — a screen, not an analysis.