Frequently Asked Questions

Visit the pricing page and choose a plan. For the Free plan, just sign up with Google or email — no credit card required. For paid plans, you'll add a payment method during signup.

Yes! Heatmap Housing offers a permanently free plan with core features — no credit card required. You get access to all 50 states, the heatmap, basic ZIP metrics, and saved workspaces. See the Pricing page for the full comparison of what's included in each plan.

Heatmap Housing offers Free, Basic, and Pro plans. The main differences are in data columns, data freshness, property-level access, and workspace limits. See the Pricing page for the full comparison.

Yes! You can upgrade or downgrade at any time:

• Upgrading: Takes effect immediately with a prorated charge
• Downgrading: Takes effect at the end of your current billing period

To change plans, go to Profile > Billing & Subscription > Manage Subscription.

To cancel:

1. Click your profile icon in the top right
2. Select "Billing & Subscription"
3. Click "Cancel Subscription"
4. Confirm your cancellation

What happens after canceling: You keep full access to paid features until the end of your current billing period. After that, your account converts to the Free tier — your saved workspaces, plans, and preferences are preserved, but you lose access to premium columns, property-level data, and other paid features.

No, we do not offer refunds. When you cancel, you keep access to all paid features until your current billing period ends, then your account switches to the Free plan. You're welcome to use the Free plan indefinitely at no cost.

Click the Filters button in the top bar to open the filter modal. Set your criteria — states, investment goal, numeric ranges, property types, and more — then click See Results to apply. For detailed instructions, see our Filtering Guide.

The map colors ZIP codes based on your selected heatmap metric (usually cash flow by default):

• Green: Highest values (best performers)
• Yellow/Orange: Medium values
• Red: Lowest values
• White/Gray: No data or filtered out

You can change the heatmap metric in the Heatmap tab of the bottom drawer. The panel includes a histogram, color gradient customization, and min/max sliders.

Zoom into any ZIP code and the map transitions from colored ZIP polygons to individual property markers:

• Green/Yellow/Red markers show deal quality (Good, Marginal, Poor)
• Gray markers appear when there isn’t enough data to score
• Blue circles are properties from nearby cached ZIPs
• Click a property to see its detail sidebar with metrics, or Ctrl/Cmd+Click to multi-select

You can also use the "View Properties" button in any ZIP detail sidebar to jump straight to property-level view. Property-level data requires a paid plan — see the Pricing page for details.

The Deal Analyzer is a full underwriting tool for evaluating individual properties. Every field is pre-filled with sourced data — rent comps, taxes, insurance — each with a confidence indicator. Adjust anything and the analysis updates instantly. It includes:

• Pre-filled & sourced — Every value shows its data source and confidence level
• Strategy selector — Hold (buy-and-hold) or BRRRR (Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat)
• Rent basis toggle — Switch between market rents and HUD Voucher rates
• Financing presets — Cash, DSCR, Conventional, FHA/VA, Hard Money
• Full P&L with color-coded cash flow, DSCR, and CoC metrics
• Sensitivity analysis to see how input changes affect returns
• Max Offer Solver to find the max price at your target cash flow

Open it from any property detail sidebar or property card by clicking "Open Deal Analyzer".

The Pipeline is a Kanban-style deal tracker with 5 stages:

1. Tracking — Properties you're watching
2. Analyzing — Running numbers and due diligence
3. Ready to Offer — Preparing or submitting an offer
4. Sent — Offer submitted, waiting for response
5. Closed — Deal completed

Create named plans (e.g., "Q1 Midwest Deals") and save properties to them from the property detail sidebar, property cards, or the Deal Analyzer. Drag and drop cards between stages as deals progress.

The Pipeline panel has 3 views: a compact strip in the bottom drawer, a side panel with accordion stages, or a full-screen horizontal Kanban.

Yes! Inside the filter modal, click Save Filters in the footer. Give it a name and click Save. To load a saved workspace, click Load Saved... in the filter modal or go to your profile menu and select Saved Workspaces. Your map position, selections, and filter settings are also automatically saved — refreshing the page (F5) restores everything.

The number of saved workspaces depends on your plan. See the Pricing page for details.

Inside the filter modal under Location > Target Markets, you can save ZIP codes:

• Liked ZIPs: Saved for quick access and highlighted in your results
• Disliked ZIPs: Excluded from your results

Search by ZIP code, add to your liked or disliked list, and the map updates automatically.

Yes! Go to Profile > Settings > Appearance and choose Light or Dark. Dark mode applies to the entire app. Map tiles use a light base to preserve heatmap color accuracy.

Heatmap Housing aggregates data from multiple trusted sources:

• Rental rates: HUD Fair Market Rent (FMR/SAFMR) data for voucher baselines, plus rental comps and automated rent evaluations from listing data
• Property data: MLS listings, ownership records, tax history, and sale comps
• Market data: Median sale prices, days on market, inventory levels, and transaction history from national data providers
• Demographics: Population, income, unemployment, and trends from the U.S. Census Bureau

Every value in the Deal Analyzer shows its source and a confidence indicator so you know how much to trust it. You can adjust any assumption to match your deal.

Data updates at multiple cadences:

• Listings: Refresh daily — you always have yesterday’s data
• ZIP-level heatmap: 6-month rolling averages, updated monthly (Free & Basic). Pro users get current-month snapshots.
• Enriched property data: Ownership, tax history, and comps refresh every 30 days

Data freshness badges appear on ZIP and property detail sidebars so you always know how recent the data is. See the Pricing page for plan-specific data access.

Property-level cash flow uses full underwriting through the same engine as the Deal Analyzer:

Every value is pre-filled with sourced data and a confidence indicator. The Deal Analyzer lets you customize every assumption. Financing defaults to Conventional (20% down, current rates) but you can switch between Cash, DSCR, FHA/VA, and Hard Money presets.

ZIP-level cash flow is a simplified screening estimate using rent minus mortgage, taxes, insurance, and HOA — designed for quick comparison across thousands of ZIPs.

At the ZIP level, Target Purchase Price is the estimated maximum price you should pay for a property in that area to hit a specific monthly cash flow goal. It helps you quickly screen whether a market is within your budget.

At the property level, Max Offer is the maximum purchase price for that specific property to reach your target cash flow or DSCR. It uses the full underwriting engine with sourced data for that property. The Deal Analyzer’s Max Offer Solver lets you adjust the target and see the price update in real time.

Try these steps:

1. Hard refresh your browser (Ctrl+Shift+R on Windows, Cmd+Shift+R on Mac)
2. Check your internet connection
3. Try a different browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge)
4. Clear your browser cache and cookies
5. If the issue persists, contact support@heatmaphousing.com

Check these common issues:

• Look in your spam/junk folder
• Wait a few minutes — emails can be delayed
• Make sure you entered the correct email address
• Add noreply@heatmaphousing.com to your contacts
• Try signing in with Google instead
• Try requesting a new login link

The table uses virtual scrolling to handle thousands of rows efficiently. If it's slow:

• Apply filters to reduce the number of visible rows
• Close other browser tabs to free up memory
• Try using a desktop/laptop instead of mobile
• Make sure your browser is up to date

Current shortcuts:

• Ctrl+Click (or Cmd+Click) — Multi-select ZIPs or properties on map or in table
• Shift+Click (table row) — Focus + zoom to location on map
• T — Toggle tracking on focused/selected property
• Esc — Close open modals
• Ctrl+Shift+R — Reset all filters and reload
• Double-tap (mobile) — Zoom to a ZIP code

Email changes can be done through the Stripe Customer Portal:

1. Go to Profile > Billing & Subscription
2. Click "Manage Subscription"
3. Update your email in the Stripe Customer Portal
4. The change will sync to your Heatmap Housing account

To update your card:

1. Click your profile icon
2. Select "Billing & Subscription"
3. Click "Manage Subscription"
4. In the Stripe portal, update your payment method

Your saved workspaces, plans, and preferences are retained when you switch to Free. However, you'll lose access to premium columns, property-level data, and other paid features. If you upgrade again later, everything will be restored.