Rural & ranch investment analysis

Analyze land acquisitions and opportunities from the buyer's, seller's, or investor's point of view.

AcreReturns models going-in costs, blended income, appreciation, and exit proceeds for larger rural properties — then puts real numbers behind the decisions that matter most:

  • Calculate ROI — cap rate, cash-on-cash return, and IRR for a specific property
  • Evaluate capital improvements — the return on adding a structure or making an improvement during the hold
  • Prepare for financing — debt service coverage and loan-to-value, calculated year by year
  • Stress-test the deal — model reduced income or higher expenses over a defined period
  • Compare best and worst case — Best Case, Base Case, and Worst Case, modeled side by side in one report
  • Generate client reports — branded and ready to share, without manual formatting
Built for brokers, appraisers, and investors working ranch, farm, and recreational land transactions.
AcreReturns equity and property value chart

Generic rental calculators weren't built for this.

Rural and ranch transactions don't fit a residential proforma template. AcreReturns was built around how these acquisitions come together.

Income isn't just rent

Grazing and ag leases, recreational leases, structure rentals, and other forms of income often stack on a single property.

Land and improvements can move differently

Growth in land and improvements may move differently. Lumping them together can distort the return.

What you add during the hold matters at exit

A new barn or renovated cabin built in year three has its own cost basis and its own depreciation clock, separate from what was already there.

Everything the analysis needs, nothing it doesn't

Every figure below is a real, working feature in the tool today — not a roadmap.

Cash or financed, either way

Model an all-cash purchase or a loan with any down payment, rate, and term — monthly or single annual payment.

Blended income, the way it's actually leased

Any number of income sources — leases, rentals, or anything else the property generates — each priced as a flat amount or units × rate (acres, AUMs, per door), with its own vacancy assumption.

Land and improvements, split apart

Purchase price divides between land and improvement value, each with its own appreciation assumption — automatically linked, never out of sync.

Capital improvements with their own depreciation

Add a structure built during the hold, set its physical, external, and functional depreciation independently, and see its contributory value at exit.

Every return metric, calculated automatically

Cap rate, cash-on-cash, DSCR, total ROI, and time-weighted IRR — accounting for going-in cost, every year of cash flow, and net proceeds at exit.

A lender-ready loan-quality summary, built in

A separate DSCR and loan-to-value report, year by year, plus a stress-tested downside scenario — income, expenses, and interest rate shocked independently, on their own timelines — so you can open a financing conversation with the numbers a lender actually asks for.

Best Case, Base Case, Worst Case — modeled side by side

The exact same calculation, rerun three ways. Income and expense shocks can each be windowed to a specific stretch of years, and land and improvement appreciation move on independent tracks — so a zero-appreciation building never gets pulled into depreciation just because land softens. One report, one equity chart, all three cases together.

Client-ready reports, branded as your own

Your logo, your firm's colors, chart style choices, optional narrative sections and photos — delivered as a single, self-contained file.

Built around your local knowledge

Rental rates, depreciation schedules, financing rates, vacancy, and growth assumptions are all yours to set — so the analysis reflects your own read on regional market conditions, not a fixed formula.

From assumptions to a finished report

The same tool that builds the analysis builds the document you hand your client.

See it in action

Watch AcreReturns build out a sample land investment scenario, start to finish

An illustrative example — not an actual property or transaction: a 21,000+ acre working ranch blending a grazing lease, irrigated cropland, a hunting lease, a short-term rental, and a new dwelling added in Year 4. The deal itself is pre-built; watch it get tuned live and turned into a branded, client-ready report in under a minute.

  • Live, unscripted recalculation — every number updates in real time, nothing staged
  • Unlimited income line items blended into one number
  • The generated report reflects every assumption shown on screen
Live analysis

Watch the return build, year by year

Property value, loan balance, and equity update instantly as you adjust assumptions, alongside a running total of capital invested — so it's obvious at a glance how much of the return is coming from cash flow versus appreciation.

  • Interactive charts for equity growth and annual cash flow
  • Choice of bar, line, or scatter styling for every chart
  • Full year-by-year projection table through exit
Equity and property value chart over a 10 year hold
Investment snapshot

Some of the very numbers market participants are looking for

Cap rate, cash-on-cash return, DSCR, total cash invested, price per acre — the core return metrics, always visible, always recalculating live as inputs change.

  • No spreadsheet formulas to maintain or break
  • Works the same for a cash purchase or a financed acquisition
  • Built-in guardrails so the numbers always tie out
Cap rate, cash-on-cash, DSCR, and total cash invested stat tiles
Client deliverable

A polished report, generated in one click

The exact same analysis becomes a self-contained, client-ready HTML report — no server, no account, no software your client has to install. Add your logo and firm colors, optional narrative sections, and supporting photos.

  • Prints cleanly or saves directly to PDF
  • Built-in Terms of Use, Privacy, and Security disclosures
  • Nothing is sent anywhere — the analysis never leaves your computer
Generated client-ready investment analysis report
Financing conversation

The stress test a lender actually wants to see

Base case and stressed NOI, debt service, DSCR, and LTV, side by side, year by year — income and expenses shocked independently, on their own timelines, so you can show exactly where the deal holds up and where it doesn't.

  • DSCR and LTV recalculated under the stress scenario, not just at close
  • Income and expense shocks windowed to any span of years
  • Same branded report format as the client-facing analysis
Stress test table showing base case and stressed NOI, debt service, DSCR, and LTV year by year
Range of outcomes

Best Case, Base Case, Worst Case — modeled side by side

The exact same calculation, rerun three ways — income and expense shocks windowed to specific years, land and improvement appreciation moved independently — so you can hand a client a real range instead of a single point estimate.

  • One report, one chart, all three cases together
  • Land and improvement appreciation move independently
  • Income and expense shocks can each be limited to specific years
Equity by year chart comparing Best Case, Base Case, and Worst Case across a ten year hold
See it applied

Open a real report, not just a screenshot

Three finished reports through the analysis of a single example property — no calculator access required, no sign-up. Click through and use the actual Print / Save as PDF and Export data buttons.

Built from Curly Butte Ranch — an illustrative example, not an actual property or transaction: a 21,452± acre working ranch with a grazing lease, hunting lease, short-term rental, and a $48.5M going-in value.

Client investment report preview Client Report

Investment Analysis Report

The buyer-facing report: going-in costs, blended income, appreciation, exit proceeds, and a plain-English narrative — branded and ready to share.

View sample report
Lender summary report preview Lender Summary

Lender Summary

Loan & collateral summary, DSCR and LTV year by year, and a downside stress test with Global DSCR — formatted for a loan-quality review.

View sample report
Scenario analysis report preview Scenario Analysis

Scenario Analysis

Best case / base case / worst case, side by side — cap rate, cash-on-cash, IRR, and equity growth under different assumptions.

View sample report

Simple, flexible licensing

Try it free for 48 hours, then subscribe as an individual or license the whole office — sign up and you're in immediately.

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48 hours · no card required

  • Full access to the calculator — every input, every line item
  • See exactly how thorough the analysis is before you buy
  • Reports and final results are part of a paid license
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Company

Team / seat license

$649/seat/year

3-seat minimum · one annual invoice for the whole office · renews automatically until canceled

  • Everything in the individual license
  • A set number of named seats for your team
  • Consistent firm branding across every agent's reports
  • Renews automatically each year unless canceled before your next billing date
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Your deal data never leaves your browser. Signing in and billing are hosted — that's what makes accounts and licensing possible — but the calculation engine itself still runs locally, on your own device. Every property figure, client name, and document you enter is processed in your browser and never transmitted to our servers. The sensitive financial details of your deals stay exactly where you put them.

AcreReturns produces estimates only, based on the assumptions entered by the user. It is not an appraisal and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice. Independent due diligence and consultation with qualified professionals is essential before any purchase, sale, or financing decision.