--- title: "Greater Houston DSCR Calculator | DSCR Labs" description: "Free Greater Houston DSCR loan calculator for rental homes: the real tax rate with MUD taxes, the flood zone, insurance and rent. Harris County and nearby." url: https://dscrlabs.com/calculator/ --- # Greater Houston DSCR Calculator Paste a listing link or type an address. In under a minute you’ll see whether the rent could cover the loan, using this home’s own tax rate, flood zone and insurance cost. - [Check a property](https://dscrlabs.com/calculator/) ## What is DSCR? **DSCR = Monthly rent ÷ Monthly payment** DSCR means debt service coverage ratio. A DSCR lender uses it instead of your income: it’s how many times the rent covers the full monthly payment, which is the loan plus taxes, insurance and HOA dues. At 1.00 the rent just covers it. Many lenders want 1.20 or more. For example, if a home rents for $2,400 a month and the full payment is $2,000, the DSCR is $2,400 ÷ $2,000 = 1.20. The rent covers the payment 1.2 times. ## What this calculator checks that most don’t - **The real tax rate** Every tax on this home’s bill, MUD taxes too, without the seller’s homestead break. - **Flood zone and insurance** The FEMA flood zone, the coastal wind area, and what a landlord policy costs in the ZIP code. - **Rent from nearby rentals** Rent from similar homes for rent nearby, with a likely range. Then it runs the numbers a DSCR lender would, and you can change every assumption in the report. ## Why Greater Houston is different A generic DSCR calculator takes one tax number and one insurance number. Here, those two can swing the payment by hundreds of dollars a month. ### The seller’s tax bill isn’t yours The tax on a listing is the seller’s bill. Their homestead discount and 10% yearly cap end when they sell, so your bill will likely be higher. Source: [DSCR Labs, The Greater Houston DSCR Loan Guide](https://dscrlabs.com/dscr-guide#property-taxes) ### MUD taxes add up Many suburbs sit in a MUD, a local utility district that adds its own property tax. In 2025, 471 Harris County MUDs charged from under 0.1% to 1.72% a year. Source: [Harris County Tax Office, tax rates by district](https://www.hctax.net/Property/JurisdictionTaxRates) ### Insurance costs more here Home insurance in Harris County averaged $4,144 a year in 2025, up from $3,343 in 2023. A landlord policy usually costs more than that. Source: [Texas Department of Insurance, homeowners insurance market overview](https://www.tdi.texas.gov/general/texas-homeowners-insurance-market-overview.html) ### Flood risk is growing FEMA’s new draft flood maps for Harris County would put about twice as many homes in the 100-year floodplain: about 345,000, up from 185,000. Source: [Kinder Institute for Urban Research, Rice University](https://kinder.rice.edu/urbanedge/new-fema-map-would-add-200-square-miles-115k-housing-units-harris-county-floodplains) ### Coastal wind is a separate policy Near the coast, wind and hail need their own policy from TWIA, the state’s wind insurer. That covers Galveston, Brazoria and Chambers counties and Harris County east of Highway 146. Source: [Texas Windstorm Insurance Association](https://www.twia.org/about-us/overview/) ## How it works 1. Paste a listing link, or type the home’s address. 2. We look up the county’s tax records, the FEMA flood map, insurance prices for the ZIP code and rents nearby. 3. In under a minute you get a report. It shows if the rent covers the payment, your cash flow each month, and three scores. 4. Move the sliders to try your own price, down payment and rent. Every number updates as you go. ## Questions first-time investors ask ### What is a DSCR loan? A DSCR loan is a mortgage for a rental home. The lender looks at whether the home’s rent covers the monthly payment. Your paycheck matters much less. DSCR stands for debt service coverage ratio: the monthly rent divided by the full monthly payment, which is the loan plus taxes, insurance and HOA dues. ### What DSCR do lenders want? At 1.0 the rent just covers the payment. Many lenders want 1.2 or more, and the best rates often start around 1.25. Some lenders go below 1.0 if you put more money down and accept a higher rate. ### How is this different from other DSCR calculators? Most calculators ask you to guess the taxes and insurance. This one looks them up for the exact home: the full tax rate with MUD taxes and no homestead break, the FEMA flood zone, insurance priced for the ZIP code, and rent from nearby rentals. ### Why will my property taxes be higher than the seller’s? The seller’s bill often includes a homestead exemption and a 10% yearly cap. Both end when the home sells, and the county then values it closer to your price. Lenders figure your payment without those breaks, and so does this calculator. ### What is a MUD, and why does it matter? A MUD is a municipal utility district. Many Greater Houston suburbs sit in one, and it adds its own property tax for water, sewer and roads. Two homes at the same price can have tax bills hundreds of dollars a month apart because of it. ### Do I need flood insurance? A lender will require it if the home is in a high-risk FEMA flood zone. Elsewhere it’s optional, but many Greater Houston homes that have flooded were outside those zones, so get a quote before you buy. ### Which areas does the calculator cover? The ten Greater Houston counties: Harris, Fort Bend, Montgomery, Brazoria, Galveston, Liberty, Waller, Chambers, Austin and San Jacinto. ### What can I check? A single-family home, townhome or condo. Paste a link to the home from HAR.com, Realtor.com, Redfin or Homes.com, or type its street address with the city and ZIP code. ### Is it free? Do I need an account? It’s free and there’s nothing to sign up for. DSCR Labs is paid by lenders after they fund a loan, so you never pay us. ### Where do the numbers come from? County tax records, the U.S. Census Bureau’s map, FEMA’s flood map, the Texas Department of Insurance, rent data from RentCast, the listing you paste and other public listing sites. Each number on the report says where it came from. ### Is this a loan approval or a quote? No. Every number is an estimate, not a loan approval. Before you make an offer, get a quote from a lender, a landlord insurance quote, and a recent lease nearby to check the rent. ### How long does it take? Usually under 30 seconds. If someone checked the same home recently, the report opens right away. ### How up to date are the reports? Each report shows the date it was made. The interest rate is today’s estimate whenever you open it. Taxes, rent and the asking price are from the report’s date, and an older report can be refreshed. ### Can I share a report? Yes. Every home has one report page with its own link. Anyone who opens it sees the same numbers and can try their own price, down payment and rent. ## Words to know - [DSCR](https://dscrlabs.com/calculator/glossary#dscr) - [PITIA (the full monthly payment)](https://dscrlabs.com/calculator/glossary#pitia) - [Loan-to-value (LTV)](https://dscrlabs.com/calculator/glossary#ltv) - [Cash-on-cash return](https://dscrlabs.com/calculator/glossary#cash-on-cash) - [MUD](https://dscrlabs.com/calculator/glossary#mud) - [Homestead exemption](https://dscrlabs.com/calculator/glossary#homestead) - [Flood zone](https://dscrlabs.com/calculator/glossary#flood-zone) - [TWIA](https://dscrlabs.com/calculator/glossary#twia) - [See the whole glossary](https://dscrlabs.com/calculator/glossary.md) ## Recent Greater Houston reports Every home that’s been checked has its own report page. Browse them, or check a new home above. - [See recent reports](https://dscrlabs.com/calculator/reports.md) - [How we make these reports](https://dscrlabs.com/calculator/methodology.md) ## From DSCR Labs DSCR Labs helps first-time investors in Greater Houston get a yes on their first income property loan. No gurus, no fees: lenders pay us after they fund your loan. - [Read the Greater Houston DSCR Loan Guide](https://dscrlabs.com/dscr-guide) - [Book a free intro call](https://calendly.com/d/dv7m-sbf-v36/dscr-labs-intro-call) - [Get your rental roadmap](https://dscrlabs.com/#book) --- [Greater Houston DSCR Calculator](https://dscrlabs.com/) by [DSCR Labs](https://dscrlabs.com/). This is an estimate, not a loan approval.