Wilmington, NC Real Estate

The Deal Time Machine

One condo. Three eras. Watch the same investor deal transform as the market shifts beneath it.

Select an era

Monthly Cash Flow ?Cash flow is the money left over each month after all expenses (mortgage, taxes, insurance, repairs, management, vacancy) are paid. Positive = money in your pocket. Negative = you're feeding the property.

Cash-on-Cash ROI ?Cash-on-cash return measures the annual cash flow divided by the total cash you invested upfront. Think of it like an interest rate on the money you put in. 8%+ is generally considered good for rentals.

Cap Rate ?Cap rate = Net Operating Income / Purchase Price. It measures the property's return independent of financing. Investors in Wilmington used to target 8%+. By 2022, finding anything above 6% was rare.

Rent-to-Price ?Monthly rent / purchase price. The "1% Rule" says if rent is at least 1% of the purchase price, the deal is likely to cash flow. Below 0.8% and it's almost impossible to make it work with financing.

Property & Financing

Purchase Price

Down Payment (25%)

Loan Amount

Mortgage Rate

Monthly P&I

Closing + Points + Repairs

Total Cash to Close

Monthly Income & Expenses

Monthly Rent

Total Expenses

Net Cash Flow

Side-by-Side: How the Same Deal Changed

Cash Needed

Rent

P&I

Cash Flow

How This Was Built

The 2019 numbers are from an actual BiggerPockets buy-and-hold analysis I ran on a real Wilmington, NC condo. The 2017 and 2022 models apply that same property to documented market conditions: mortgage rates from Freddie Mac's PMMS data, home price appreciation from the FHFA House Price Index for the Wilmington MSA, rent growth from Census ACS and local market data, and insurance increases from NC Department of Insurance filings. All three eras use the same assumptions: 25% down, 5% vacancy, 5% repairs, 8% management. The condo HOA risk section reflects the post-Surfside (June 2021) regulatory shift that forced HOAs nationwide to address deferred maintenance through either dues increases or special assessments.

Sources: Freddie Mac PMMS, FHFA HPI, Census ACS, NC Dept. of Insurance, BiggerPockets. This is not financial advice. These are real numbers from a real analysis, meant to show how quickly market conditions can change the math.