I ran 20 Cleveland rentals as all-cash buys. Only 7 were worth it.
Every single one makes money. Here's why only seven of them are worth your time, and the one number Zillow got wrong by half.
October 10, 2026 · 4 min read · Haaris Africawala, who built Mortar
This is the first post in a new series. Every week I pick a city people argue about online, take the 20 newest listings on Zillow, and run every one through Mortar as if I paid all cash. No loan, no cherry-picking. Cleveland is first.
How I picked the 20
Zillow, Cleveland, Ohio. For sale, houses and multi-family, $60,000 to $200,000, sorted by newest. I took the first 20 in order and ran Mortar on each one. 18 of the 20 had no Zillow rent estimate, so Mortar pulled rent from nearby rentals instead. All 20 took me 26 minutes.
All 20 make money. 7 clear the bar.
My bar is an 8% cap rate. All cash, that means the house pays you back in about twelve and a half years or less. Here's every house, tallest to shortest by cap rate. Tap one to see its numbers.
Number 1 of 20 by cap rate
1745 Wayside Rd
- Price
- $79,900
- Rent
- $1,430/mo
- Cash flow
- $849/mo
- Cap rate
- 12.8%
Taller house, higher cap rate. Tap any house.
Same money every month. Not the same deal.
The best house was 1745 Wayside Rd: four bedrooms, listed at $79,900, renting for about $1,430. After tax, insurance, repairs, empty months and management, it leaves about $849 a month.
Then there's 3067 W 137th St, listed at $200,000. It leaves $833 a month. Almost the exact same check.
The best one
Buy1745 Wayside Rd
$79,900, paid in cash
The $200K house
Investigate3067 W 137th St
$200,000, paid in cash
The difference is cap rate: one year of cash flow divided by what you paid. Wayside is 12.8%. The $200K house is 5%. Wayside pays you back in about 8 years. The other one takes about 20. It makes money. It's just not worth the money.
Zillow was off by half on the tax
On that same $200K house, Zillow's payment estimate puts property tax at $170 a month. I checked the actual county bill: about $341. Trust Zillow's number and you'd think you're keeping $171 a month more than you are. That's around $2,000 a year that never shows up.
Property tax on 3067 W 137th St, per month
Zillow's estimatethe tax line in its payment estimate
$170
The county billCuyahoga County, for a landlord
$341
Mortarcounty rate on the $200,000 price
$365
And it's not a one-off. Property tax was the biggest bill on 19 of the 20 houses I ran.
What I took away
- Check the county tax bill, never an average. It's the biggest bill on almost every house.
- Don't fall for the nicer listing. All 7 that cleared the bar cost under $170K, and the top five were $100K or less.
- Confirm the rent. 3 of the 7 buys drop below 8% if rent comes in at the low end of what nearby rentals get. And 6 of the 20 are duplexes, where the rent may only cover one unit.
See all 20 houses, with every bill
- Rent+$1,430Property tax, county−$147Insurance−$33Repairs, 10%−$143Empty months, 8%−$114Management, 10%−$143Cash flow$849/moCap rate12.8%Pays you back in7.8 yrsNearby rents$1,310 to $1,560If rent lands low11.5%Rent to clear 8%$990/moBiggest billProperty tax
4 bed, 2 bath. The one I trust most: even at the lowest nearby rent it still clears 8%.
The fine print: listings scanned Sep 27, 2026 (the 3067 W 137th St rent was updated and 4 rows rescanned Sep 30), so prices may be different today. All cash. County tax, ohio average, 0.50% of price a year insurance, 10% repairs, 8% empty months, 10% management. Tax on the two houses in the video was checked by hand on the county site. Everything else is an estimate. Not financial advice.
If you want to run your own listings, Mortar does this math on any Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com or Homes.com listing, free for five houses a month. Add it to Chrome. And tell me which city I should run next in the video comments.