Help Center

Start with the market, not the property:

1. Pick a market with data. Compare cash flow, rent-to-price, cap rate, price trends, and demographics across ZIP codes instead of guessing or defaulting to your home town.
2. Analyze real listings against your own numbers. Your down payment, interest rate, and expense assumptions, not someone else's.
3. Underwrite before you offer. Account for taxes, insurance, vacancy, management, and maintenance so the deal works on paper first.

Heatmap Housing covers all three steps in one place: a free nationwide ZIP heatmap to find markets, then property-level deal analysis pre-filled with sourced data. You can start on the Free plan with no credit card.

Consumer portals like Zillow and Realtor.com are built for homebuyers, not investors. For investing, you want a tool that ranks markets and properties by investor math (cash flow, cap rate, DSCR) rather than photos and commute times.

Heatmap Housing shows every U.S. ZIP code as an investment heatmap, filters by cash flow and returns, and opens each listing in a Deal Analyzer pre-filled with sourced rent, tax, and insurance estimates. The Free plan covers the nationwide heatmap; paid plans start at $29/month for property-level data in your active markets.

Zillow and Redfin are consumer portals for finding a home to live in. Heatmap Housing is a decision platform for rental investors. Three differences:

• Market-first: every U.S. ZIP ranked by investor metrics before you look at a single house.
• Underwriting built in: each property opens with cash flow, cap rate, DSCR, and a max offer solver pre-filled from sourced data.
• Investor data portals don't show: HUD Fair Market Rents, ownership records, tax history, and sales history alongside listings.

Use portals to browse homes; use Heatmap Housing to decide where and what to buy as an investment.

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 + DC, 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.

No. On any plan, including Free, you can buy report credits and pull full property reports one at a time. Reports use their own credits on every plan, separate from the monthly lookups in Basic and Pro. A pack of 3 reports is $5, and bulk pricing is available (100 reports for $129).

Each report includes up to 25 nearby rentals, up to 25 nearby listings (for sale or recently off the market), ownership data, tax information, demographics, a rent estimate, a value estimate (ARV), a map view, and a downloadable PDF. Credits last 12 months, and reopening a saved report is free until its underlying data expires.

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 & Invoices > Manage Subscription.

To cancel:

1. Click your profile icon in the top right
2. Select "Billing & Invoices"
3. Click "Manage Subscription" to open the secure Stripe billing portal
4. Choose the option to cancel your plan and confirm

If your payment is past due: the Billing & Invoices window shows a "Cancel Subscription & Switch to Free" button instead. It ends the subscription right away, voids the unpaid invoice so you are not charged, and moves your account to Free.

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 reports are included on the Basic and Pro plans, and Free-plan users can buy pay-as-you-go report credits (from $5 for 3 reports) to pull them one at a time. 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: Kept within 24 hours old on Pro, 72 hours on Basic (refreshed when you view the market)
• 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.

Max Offer is the highest purchase price for a specific property that still reaches your target cash flow or DSCR. It uses the full underwriting engine with sourced data for that property. In the Deal Analyzer, the "Offer Solver" lets you change the "Target" and see Max Offer update in real time.

At the ZIP level there is no max offer. The "Best CoC Bedroom Est. Price" column shows the estimated price of the bedroom count with the best cash-on-cash return, which helps you screen whether a market fits your budget.

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

Your login email can't be changed from the app or the billing portal. To change it, email support@heatmaphousing.com from your current address and tell us the new one. Changing the email in the Stripe billing portal only updates your billing contact in Stripe. It does not change the address you sign in with.

To update your card:

1. Click your profile icon
2. Select "Billing & Invoices"
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.