1412 Oak St, Columbus 43206 Duplex: BUY ONLY AT ≤ $277,000, PASS at the $289,000 Ask
Interpretation: I underwrite 1412 Oak St as a duplex with two rentable units, each 3 bed / 2 bath at about $1,700 a month, bought for $289,000 with 25% down, 7% fixed for 30 years, $8,000 closing costs and a long-term rental plan. I could not find a listing or county record for this address, so every property fact is the user's typed claim and is unverified.
BUY ONLY AT ≤ $277,000 (the price that gives 8% cash-on-cash, the stated target; my model gives about $276,800). At the $289,000 ask the deal returns 6.5% cash-on-cash, below the 8% target. If the typed "3-bed/2-bath" describes the whole building (one rent roll of about $1,700), the deal fails badly: about $803 a month of negative cash flow, and it only works at about $124,000. This is a recommendation to confirm with a lender, inspector, insurance agent, attorney and tax professional, not financial, legal or tax advice.
1. Property snapshot: only the typed facts, no confirmed record
| Item | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Address | 1412 Oak St, Columbus, OH 43206 | Typed by user; no listing or Franklin County record found |
| Type, beds/baths | Duplex, 3 bed / 2 bath | Typed; unclear whether per unit or whole building |
| Asking price | $289,000 | Typed |
| Listing URL | Supplied URL was truncated (zillow.com/homedetails/...) |
Could not be opened |
| Year built, sq ft, HOA, days on market, tax bill | Not found | Open item |
I found no listing for this exact address, and I could not confirm that an Oak St exists in ZIP 43206. Treat the address as the top open item. For a sale comparable, a remodeled 43206 duplex with two 2-bed/1-bath units was listed at $349,000 (1321 Studer Ave; search snippet, page not opened), so $289,000 for two 3/2 units would be a low per-door price. That is a reason to check the unit mix before trusting the "3/2 each" reading.
2. Rent comps: $1,700 a unit is the middle of a wide 43206 range
| Address / area | Beds/baths | Rent | Source | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 43206 average, 3-bed | 3 bed | $1,700 average (range $1,195 to $6,495); market rated cool | Zillow Rental Manager trends | data as of 4 Oct 2026 |
| Columbus metro FMR, 3-bed | 3 bed | $1,715 (HUD FY2026) | PlainRent HUD FMR page | FY2026 |
| 668 Wager St, Southern Orchards | 3/2, 1,492 sq ft | $1,970 | Zumper | undated; snippet only, page not opened |
| 277 E Mithoff St, Merion Village (duplex/townhouse) | 3/1.5 | $1,950 | HotPads | snippet only, page not opened |
| 1339 E Kossuth St, Driving Park | 3/1 | $1,450 | Zumper | snippet only, page not opened |
| 463 Elsmere St, Schumacher Place | 3/1, 1,300 sq ft | $1,500 | Zumper | snippet only, page not opened |
| 1026 Ellsworth Ave, Driving Park (duplex) | 3/1, 1,100 sq ft | $1,295 | HotPads | snippet only, page not opened |
| 1349 E Columbus St (duplex) | 3/1, 1,100 sq ft | $1,195 (rented) | Rentberry | undated on page |
| 961 Heyl Ave, new-build duplex | 3/3.5 (page header says 4) | $2,300 (rented) | Rentberry | undated on page |
Concluded market rent per 3/2 unit: $1,500 to $1,900, point estimate $1,700. The Zillow average and the HUD figure sit within $15 of each other, which supports the point. The one 3/2 comp ($1,970, snippet only) and the renovated or new builds pull up, while older 3/1 duplex halves at $1,195 to $1,500 pull down. A 3/2 should beat a 3/1, but Zillow notes a cool market with average 3-bed rent down $150 year over year, so I do not go above $1,700. Rows marked snippet only come from search-result excerpts whose pages I did not open, so treat them as leads; only the Zillow, HUD and two Rentberry rows were read in full, and those carry no lease dates.
3. Income and expenses: two-unit base case nets $22,539 a year
| Line item | Monthly | Annual | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross rent (2 × $1,700) | $3,400 | $40,800 | Concluded rent from section 2 |
| Vacancy and credit loss (6%) | -$204 | -$2,448 | Estimate: 6% because the 43206 market is cool |
| Effective gross income | $3,196 | $38,352 | Derived |
| Property tax | $420 | $5,035 | Estimate: price × 35% Ohio assessed share × about 49.78 effective mills (not re-confirmed; check the Franklin County Tax Estimator) |
| Insurance | $150 | $1,800 | Estimate: published Ohio landlord averages (search snippets, pages not opened) are $1,093 a year and $1,220 a year; I add margin for an older two-unit building |
| Repairs (5% of gross) | $170 | $2,040 | Estimate: assumption stated |
| Capital reserve (5% of gross) | $170 | $2,040 | Estimate: assumption stated |
| Management (8% of collected rent) | $256 | $3,068 | Estimate: assumption stated |
| Owner-paid utilities | $150 | $1,800 | Estimate: common water/sewer and similar, assumption stated |
| Rental registry fee | $3 | $30 | Per a law-firm summary seen only as a search snippet (page not opened): $15 per unit, capped at $1,500 per complex |
| Operating expenses | $1,318 | $15,813 | Sum of the lines above |
| Net operating income | $1,878 | $22,539 | EGI minus operating expenses |
Ohio gives no owner-occupancy credit to rentals, so none is applied; rental properties are not eligible (search snippet, page not opened). I assumed the post-sale appraised value equals the price. Math is in data/underwrite.py, output in data/underwrite_out.json.
4. Financing and cash flow: about $436 a month on $80,250 invested
| Item | Two units (base) | One rent roll ($1,700 total) |
|---|---|---|
| Down payment (25%) | $72,250 | $72,250 |
| Loan amount | $216,750 | $216,750 |
| Rate / term | 7.00% fixed, 30 years | same |
| Principal and interest | $1,442 a month ($17,305 a year) | same |
| Total cash needed (down + $8,000 closing) | $80,250 | $80,250 |
| Cash flow, monthly | +$436 | -$803 |
| Cash flow, annual | +$5,234 | -$9,633 |
The 7% rate is the user's input; for context, Freddie Mac reported a 7.28% 30-year average on 1 October 2026 for owner-occupied loans, and investor loans usually price higher, so 7% may be optimistic (estimate: not company-specific).
5. Yields: cap rate 7.8% and cash-on-cash 6.5% in the base case
| Metric | Formula and inputs | Two units | One rent roll |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cap rate | NOI / price: $22,539 / $289,000 | 7.8% | 2.7% |
| Cash-on-cash | Annual cash flow / cash invested: $5,234 / $80,250 | 6.5% | -12.0% |
| DSCR | NOI / debt service: $22,539 / $17,305 | 1.30 | 0.44 |
| Gross rent multiplier | Price / gross annual rent: $289,000 / $40,800 | 7.1 | 14.2 |
The two-unit case clears the 1.2 DSCR bar but misses the 8% target by 1.5 points. The one-rent-roll case has NOI of $7,672, which does not cover the $17,305 of debt service.
6. Local rules: a new Columbus rental registry adds small fees and inspections
| Rule | What it requires or costs | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Columbus rental registry (Ordinance 0923-2026) | Council reportedly adopted it in April 2026 (Ordinance 0923-2026, per a search snippet; page not opened): annual registration, local operator contact, periodic inspections; repeat violators face conditional registration and penalties | Citizen Portal |
| Fee | Reported (snippet only): $15 per unit a year, capped at $1,500 per complex; periodic inspections reportedly every three years | Kegler Brown |
| Start date | A law-firm snippet says 2027; I did not confirm a start date. This WOSU article covers the April 2026 proposal | WOSU |
| Property tax | Ohio assesses at 35% of value (my assumption, from search snippets, not re-confirmed); rentals get no owner-occupancy credit, and the 10% non-business credit is being phased out | Fairfield County Auditor |
| Rent control, HOA, flood zone | Not checked | Open item |
I found no evidence that a sale triggers an immediate reassessment in Ohio outside the county's regular update cycle, but I did not confirm this for Franklin County; the tax line assumes the price becomes the taxable base. Short-term rental rules were not researched because the strategy is long-term.
7. Risks, ranked
- Unit mix and address unverified (largest). If the 3/2 is the whole building, cash flow is about -$803 a month and the price must fall to about $124,000 for 8% cash-on-cash. Confirm before any offer.
- Rent per unit. At $1,500 a unit, cash flow drops to $130 a month (2.0% cash-on-cash); at $1,800 it is $589 (8.8%). Older 3/1 duplex halves in 43206 list at $1,195 to $1,500.
- Financing rate. Each point of rate moves cash-on-cash by about 2.2 points (see section 8). Investor loans may price above the 7% assumed.
- Property tax. My 49.78-mill rate is an estimate; a 10% error moves tax by about $500 a year. Franklin County revalues on a cycle, so later bills may rise.
- Insurance and capital items. I used $1,800 a year against published averages of $1,093 to $1,220; an older building could cost more.
- Soft rent market. Zillow rates 43206 cool, with average 3-bed rent down $150 over the year.
- Registry compliance. Small cost ($30 a year here), but inspection findings could force repairs.
8. Sensitivity (two-unit base): rent ±10% by rate ±1 point
Each cell shows monthly cash flow and cash-on-cash (derived from data/underwrite.py).
| Rate \ Rent | -10% ($3,060) | Base ($3,400) | +10% ($3,740) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6% | $319 / 4.8% | $579 / 8.7% | $839 / 12.5% |
| 7% (base) | $176 / 2.6% | $436 / 6.5% | $696 / 10.4% |
| 8% | $28 / 0.4% | $288 / 4.3% | $548 / 8.2% |
Only +10% rent at 7% or 8%, or base rent at 6%, reaches the 8% target.
9. Verdict: buy at ≤ $277,000, walk away above it
| Test | Price |
|---|---|
| 8% cash-on-cash (target) | about $276,800 |
| DSCR of 1.2 | about $308,900 |
| Zero cash flow | about $356,700 |
| 8% cash-on-cash if the whole building rents at $1,700 | about $124,000 |
At $289,000 the deal needs about $12,000 off to meet your target. I would bid at or under $277,000, and only after two checks pass: the unit mix is two 3/2 units and each rents near $1,700. The call flips to PASS if the building is one rent roll, if comparable rents are nearer $1,500 a unit (2.0% cash-on-cash), or if your loan prices at 8% without a rent rise. It improves if a lender offers 6% or inspection shows that rents of $1,800 or more are achievable.
Do next
- Obtain the full Zillow or MLS listing and the Franklin County Auditor record for the parcel; confirm address, unit mix, taxes, year built and any disclosed rents.
- Run the Franklin County Tax Estimator for the real parcel to replace my tax estimate.
- Get a landlord insurance quote and check the FEMA flood zone.
- Get an inspection and confirm the city registry start date and inspection scope.
- Get a lender quote for an investor loan to replace the 7% assumption.
Open items
- Property facts (address match, unit mix, size, age, HOA, days on market, price history) are unverified.
- Effective tax rate (49.78 mills) is an estimate, not re-confirmed on an Auditor page.
- Insurance, utilities, vacancy, repairs, capital and management figures are labeled assumptions.
- Most comp pages show no lease date; the registry start date is unconfirmed.
Coverage
Not reached: the user's Zillow link (truncated), Franklin County Auditor and Recorder parcel pages, FEMA, and one Rentberry comp (blocked).
Sources
All accessed 2026-10-06.
- Zillow Rental Manager, 43206 3-bedroom rent trends
- PlainRent, Columbus HUD FY2026 FMR
- Freddie Mac mortgage rates, 1 Oct 2026 (GlobeNewswire)
- WOSU, Columbus rental registry proposal
- Citizen Portal, council adopts rental registry
- Kegler Brown, Columbus registration program
- Rentberry, 1349 E Columbus St
- Rentberry, 961 Heyl Ave
- Zumper, 668 Wager St
- Zumper, 1339 E Kossuth St
- Zumper, 463 Elsmere St
- HotPads, 277 E Mithoff St
- HotPads, 1026 Ellsworth Ave
- Trulia, 1321 Studer Ave duplex for sale
- Franklin County Tax Estimator
- Simply Insurance, Ohio landlord insurance
- Coverforge, Ohio landlord insurance
- Miami County Auditor, owner occupancy credit
- Fairfield County Auditor, property tax reform