How the calculators work

How the return is calculated

• Net operating income (NOI) = gross annual rent minus operating expenses: property tax, insurance, management, maintenance, vacancy, and any HOA.
• Cap rate = NOI ÷ purchase price.
• Cash-on-cash = annual cash flow after modeled debt service ÷ (down payment + 3% modeled closing costs). At 100% down, modeled debt service is $0.

Where the numbers come from

• Operating-cost assumptions are seeded per market from Dara's internal underwriting reference (property tax %, insurance, management %, maintenance %, vacancy %).
• You set price, expected rent, and down payment. Financed scenarios use the disclosed illustrative fixed rate and term; every result recomputes from those inputs.

What it isn't

• An estimate, not a guarantee. Costs are illustrative and confirmed per property at qualification.
• It does not include appreciation, sale costs, income taxes, lender fees, or changing rent and expenses.

How the ratio works

• DSCR = expected monthly rent ÷ modeled monthly housing expense (mortgage debt service, property taxes, insurance, and association dues).
• A ratio around 1.0 means rent covers the modeled housing expense. Lender thresholds and terms vary.

Assumptions

• Modeled housing expense is shown across the disclosed illustrative nominal rate band; it is not a rate quote.
• Taxes, insurance, and association dues use illustrative market assumptions; you set price, rent, and down payment.

What it isn't

• Not a rate quote, a pre-approval, or a credit decision.
• It is a property-fit estimate under the inputs shown. Any financing decision is made by a lender for the specific property and borrower.

What's added up

• Your down payment (if financed) or the full price (if cash), plus closing costs, LLC formation, and the transfer cost.
• Financed scenarios also include lender reserves as retained liquidity. Those funds remain yours; they are not a spent fee.
• Plus the line most calculators leave out: the cost of moving the money across the border.

The FX line

• The transfer line models 0.5% of the full amount transferred, including retained lender reserves when financed. It is an illustrative assumption, not a live quote.

Assumptions & limits

• Closing figures and FX are illustrative, not live quotes, and are confirmed before you send funds.
• The headline is total liquidity required, not total fees. It doesn't include ongoing operating costs (see the Rental ROI tool for those).

How the comparison works

• One side holds your amount as home-currency cash, carried forward at that currency's historical annualized depreciation against the dollar.
• The other side uses the same starting USD equivalent for a US rental: property value appreciates annually while modeled net rent accumulates as cash and is not reinvested.

Data & sources

• Depreciation is derived from published annual-average exchange rates, 2019-2025 (the source and dates are shown on the tool). Past performance is not a prediction.
• The US figure uses the selected market's modeled NOI yield plus 3% annual appreciation. It excludes financing, acquisition and sale costs, and taxes.

What it isn't

• A forecast or investment advice. It projects historical trends, which may not repeat.
• Your real result depends on the specific property, rates, and costs at the time.

How rewards are projected

• Each month, rewards accrue on the opening balance; the monthly-equivalent contribution is then added at month-end and begins earning the following month.
• Illustrative nominal annual reward rates are divided by 12 and compounded monthly.
• The base reward rate is an illustrative reserve pass-through; your selected boosts are added on top, and the total is capped.
• Rewards are shown separately from what you put in, so you always see contributions vs. rewards earned.

The boost ladder and the cap

• Illustrative boosts: auto-save +0.5%, family two-way +1.0%, active referrals +1.0% each up to +2.0%, a term pocket +1.5% or +2.5%, and property build +1.0%.
• The combined reward rate is capped at 8%, and the boosted rate applies to your first $25,000. Any balance above that earns the base rate.
• These figures are illustrative placeholders and will be confirmed before launch.

What it isn't

• Not interest, a savings-account rate, or a guaranteed return. Dara pays usage-based rewards, and figures are illustrative, not a quote.
• It doesn't account for taxes or any fees, and your real rewards depend on the rates and boosts in effect at the time.