How to Read the Rental Analyst Dashboard: A Complete Guide

Once you have entered a property in Rental Analyst, the Dashboard is your home base. It gives you the complete financial picture of a property in one screen — from today's cash flow to where the numbers are heading over the next 30 years. This guide walks through every section using a Toronto condo case study so you know exactly what you are looking at and what to do when the numbers are not where you want them.

The Case Study Property

A one-bedroom condo in Toronto's Liberty Village purchased in 2021 for $620,000. Current estimated market value is $575,000 — a 7% decline from purchase price. The mortgage balance sits at $462,000 at 5.54%, renewing in June 2027. Monthly rent is $2,100. The property is cash flow negative at current rates, which makes it a useful example because the Dashboard is designed to surface exactly this kind of situation clearly.

The Property Selector

The top-left dropdown shows the active property and lets you switch between any property in your account instantly. The three-dot menu next to it gives you quick access to add a new property, edit the current one, or delete it. If you need to update rent, mortgage terms, or expenses, the edit option here takes you directly to the property editor. Keeping your inputs current matters — the Dashboard always reflects today's numbers, not a snapshot from when you first entered the property.

The KPI Bar

Across the top right of the screen, six numbers summarise the property at a glance: estimated value, total equity, DSCR, monthly cash flow, CF + principal, and current mortgage rate. These always reflect today's position and do not change when you use the time travel feature described below. Think of this bar as your permanent anchor — the baseline you are always measuring against.

For our Toronto condo: Value $575,000, Equity $113,000, DSCR 0.74, Monthly CF -$805, CF + Principal -$371, Rate 5.54%. The DSCR of 0.74 is the most important number in this bar. It means rental income covers only 74% of the mortgage payment. The property is not self-financing at current rent and rate levels.

The RA Score

The RA Score is Rental Analyst's composite health rating for the property. It runs from 0 to 100 and falls into three bands:

• 80 to 100 — Strong. The property is performing well across cash flow, coverage, yield, and leverage metrics.
• 60 to 79 — Moderate. The property has strengths but also pressure points worth monitoring.
• Below 60 — At Risk. One or more metrics are outside acceptable ranges. Action or monitoring is warranted.

Our Toronto condo scores 37 — At Risk. This reflects the combination of negative cash flow, DSCR below 1.0, negative cash-on-cash return, and breakeven occupancy above 100%. No single metric triggers At Risk on its own. The score aggregates the full picture.

The RA Score updates as you time travel forward. A property that scores 37 today may score higher in 2031 if modeled renewal rates improve the cash flow picture and principal paydown reduces the balance. Use this to understand not just where the property is but where it is heading.

The KPI Tiles

Below the RA Score, ten metric tiles give you the full breakdown. Each tile includes a plain-English verdict label so you do not have to interpret the number in isolation.

• Monthly Cash Flow. Net cash after all expenses and mortgage payments. Negative means you are subsidising the property from other income. Annual total shown below the monthly figure.
• RA Score. The composite health rating described above.
• CF + Principal. Cash flow plus the principal portion of your mortgage payment. This is the true economic return each month — cash out of pocket minus equity being built. A property that is cash flow negative but CF + Principal positive is building more equity than it is costing you.
• Total Equity. Current estimated value minus mortgage balance, with LTV and total cash invested shown below for context.
• Cap Rate. NOI divided by current estimated value. The verdict label flags low-yield situations where the market is pricing in appreciation that may or may not arrive.
• Gross Yield. Annual rent as a percentage of what you paid — purchase price, not current value. Useful for understanding the income yield on your original investment.
• DSCR. Rental income divided by total mortgage payment. Below 1.0 means rent does not cover the mortgage. For a full explanation of what lenders expect, see What Is a Good DSCR for a Canadian Rental Property.
• Cash-on-Cash. Annual net cash flow divided by total cash deployed. Negative means your invested capital is producing a negative cash return. This does not account for equity buildup or appreciation.
• Breakeven Occupancy. The occupancy rate needed to cover all costs. Above 100% means the property cannot break even even at full occupancy at the current rate and rent level.
• GRM. Gross Rent Multiplier — purchase price divided by annual gross rent. Tells you how many years of rent it would take to repay the purchase price. Useful for quick comparisons across properties.

For our Toronto condo, the tiles that immediately stand out are DSCR 0.74, Cash-on-Cash -3.9%, and Breakeven Occupancy 156%. The 156% breakeven is the clearest signal: even with a tenant in place every day of the year, the property is losing money at current rent and rate levels.

The Cash Flow Projection Chart

The chart below the tiles shows a 10-year cash flow outlook. Two lines: annual net cash flow as bars, and cumulative cash flow as a line. The default assumption is 0% rent and expense growth — the most conservative view of how the property will perform.

If you have modeled renewal rates in the Renewal tab, vertical dotted lines appear on the chart at each modeled renewal date, labelled with the rate. This is the only way to see how future rate changes affect the cash flow trajectory visually. Without modeled rates, the chart projects forward at your current rate — which may be optimistic or pessimistic depending on where rates go. For our Toronto condo with a renewal modeled at 3.65% from 2027, the chart shows the annual cash flow bars shrinking after that date as the lower rate takes effect. The cumulative line begins to flatten rather than continuing its steep descent.

Below the chart, three summary figures: Year 1 CF, Year 10 CF, and 10-Year Total. These give you the trajectory in three numbers without reading the full chart.

The "30-Year View" link in the top right of the chart section takes you directly to the 30-Year View tab for this property. For a full walkthrough of that tab, see How to Use the 30-Year View.

Time Travel

The renewal planning panel on the right side of the Dashboard includes a time travel feature — one of the most useful tools on the page. Six fixed intervals sit below the current rate: Now, 2027 (+1yr), 2029 (+3yr), 2031 (+5yr), 2036 (+10yr), 2046 (+20yr), 2056 (+30yr).

Clicking any interval moves the property detail panel to that point in time. The mortgage balance updates to reflect principal paid down by that date. If you have modeled renewal rates, those rates are reflected in the balance calculation at each interval. The RA Score also updates — a property that scores At Risk today may reach Moderate by 2031 as the balance decreases and a lower renewal rate improves cash flow.

For our Toronto condo, jumping to 2031 shows a mortgage balance reduced by approximately $40,000 through principal paydown, plus the effect of the modeled 3.65% renewal from 2027. The RA Score improves from 37 to 54 — still Moderate, not yet Strong, but meaningfully better than today. This is the kind of forward visibility that changes how you think about a property you might otherwise want to exit immediately.

Monthly Breakdown

The Monthly Breakdown panel shows today's income, expenses, debt service, and returns in a single waterfall. It always reflects the current date — not a projected future state. This means every time you log in, the numbers you see are live: today's rent, today's expenses, today's mortgage payment split between principal and interest.

The panel is divided into four sections. Income shows gross rent, vacancy loss, and effective income. Operating Expenses itemises property tax, insurance, condo fees, maintenance, CapEx reserve, utilities, and management fee. Debt Service shows the full mortgage P&I payment with the principal and interest split called out separately. Returns shows net cash flow, principal paydown, and CF + Principal as the combined economic return.

If any input fields are empty — maintenance not entered, for example — a warning appears at the bottom of the panel noting that cash flow may be understated. The "Complete inputs" link takes you directly to the property editor to fill in what is missing. Keeping inputs complete is what makes the Dashboard useful as an ongoing management tool rather than a one-time analysis.

Mortgage Payment Split

To the right of the Monthly Breakdown, the Mortgage Payment Split panel shows the current monthly payment broken into principal and interest with a visual bar. In the early years of a mortgage, interest dominates — for our Toronto condo at 5.54%, 78% of each payment is interest and 22% is principal. As the mortgage matures, this ratio shifts in favour of principal.

The panel is always visible regardless of where you are in the time travel timeline. It reflects today's payment split, giving you a reference point for how much of each dollar is building equity versus servicing interest cost.

Renewal Planning

Below the mortgage split, the Renewal Planning section shows your upcoming renewal date and any rates you have modeled. If no renewal rate has been modeled, it prompts you: "No renewal rate modeled — Model your next renewal to see its impact on all projections." The Model button takes you directly to the Renewal tab.

Once a rate is modeled, this section confirms what is applied: the rate, the effective date, and whether it flows into all projections. Modeled rates affect the Cash Flow Projection chart, the time travel calculations, and the 30-Year View. They do not change the KPI bar, which always reflects today. For a complete guide to modeling renewal scenarios, see What Happens to Your Cash Flow at Renewal.

Property Details Panel

The Property Details panel at the bottom right shows every input that drives the Dashboard calculations: purchase price, owner's estimated value, equity, total cash invested, mortgage balance, rate and term, amortization, renewal date, monthly rent, rental growth assumption, and vacancy rate. This is a read-only summary — to change any value, use the edit option in the three-dot menu at the top left.

The mortgage balance shown here is calculated from your entered balance and start date, not pulled from your lender. If you entered an older balance, the calculated figure may differ from your actual statement balance. Update the entered balance periodically to keep the equity and LTV figures accurate.

The Guided Walkthrough

If you are new to the Dashboard, the question mark button in the bottom right corner opens a guided walkthrough specific to this tab. It steps through each section in sequence with tooltips explaining what each metric means and how to act on it. It takes about two minutes and is the fastest way to orient yourself if you have just entered your first property.

What to Do When the Numbers Are At Risk

An At Risk score does not mean sell. It means the property needs attention. Here is the sequence to work through:

• Model your renewal first. If you have not modeled a renewal rate, the projections may be using a rate that does not reflect what you will actually pay. A lower renewal rate can move a property from At Risk to Moderate on its own. Go to the Renewal tab and model at least one scenario before drawing conclusions.
• Check the breakeven occupancy. Above 100% means the deal does not work at current rent. The question is whether market rents are moving toward or away from your breakeven. If rents are rising, time is working in your favour. If they are flat or falling, the gap widens.
• Use time travel to find the inflection point. Jump to 2029 or 2031. Does the RA Score improve? Does the property move from At Risk to Moderate? If yes, the question is whether you have the liquidity to hold until that point. If no — if the score stays At Risk even with modeled renewal rates — the investment thesis needs reassessment.
• Run the Scenarios tab. If you are seriously considering selling or refinancing, the Scenarios tab runs hold, sell, and refi side by side with your actual numbers. For a full walkthrough, see Hold, Sell, or Refinance? Run the Numbers.

This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, mortgage, or tax advice. All figures are illustrative estimates based on example inputs. Actual results depend on your specific circumstances. Consult a qualified professional before making any investment decision.