The Ultimate Get Started Guide

New here? Perfect. This guide walks you through everything — from signing up to running your first deal analysis and building a portfolio dashboard that shows you exactly where you stand.

What you'll need

5–8 minutes

A property to analyze (or use our sample)

Basic property info (purchase price, rent estimate)

Your bank login (for accounting setup)

A free Income Builder account

Chapter 1

Create your account

Getting in takes about 60 seconds. No credit card required — the free tier is free forever.

Go to incomebuilder.io
Click "Start for free." Enter your email and create a password. That's it — you're in.
Choose your plan
Start on the free tier — it covers deal analysis and basic portfolio tracking. If you want accounting, direct mail, and advanced reports, start your 14-day Investor trial. No charge until day 15.
💡 You can upgrade anytime from inside your account. Start free and upgrade when you're ready.
Complete your profile
Add your investing goals and target market. This personalizes your dashboard and helps Income Builder surface the right defaults for your deal analysis criteria.

Chapter 2

Run your first deal analysis

Income Builder has 3 deal analyzers built for different investing strategies. Pick the one that fits your deal and know in 60 seconds if it's worth pursuing.

Choose your analyzer

Long-term rental
Buy and hold, cash flow

Short/mid-term rental
STR, MTR, Airbnb

Fix & flip / wholesale
ARV, rehab, assignment
Enter the property details
Type in the purchase price, estimated rent, taxes, insurance, and any other expenses you know. Don't worry about having every number — you can estimate and refine later.
💡 Income Builder pre-fills common expense ratios based on property type. You can adjust any of them.
Read the Green Light result
Income Builder runs 6 criteria against your numbers — the same system Dustin uses on every deal. Every criterion must pass for the deal to get a green light.
✓ Green light = all 6 criteria pass. This deal is worth pursuing.

You'll see cash flow, cap rate, cash-on-cash return, DCR, equity capture, and gross income — all calculated instantly.
Save or share the analysis
Save the deal to your account to revisit later, or export it as a PDF to share with a partner, lender, or your coach.

Chapter 3

Build your portfolio dashboard

The portfolio dashboard is your command center — every property, unit, tenant, and cash flow number in one place the moment you log in.

Add your first property
Go to Portfolio and click "Add property." Enter the address, purchase price, current value, and rent. Income Builder adds it to your dashboard instantly.
Add units and tenants
For multi-unit properties, add each unit separately. Attach tenant info, lease dates, and monthly rent to each unit so you always know your occupancy status.
Store your documents
Upload leases, inspection reports, insurance documents, and anything else tied to the property. Everything lives at the property level — no more digging through folders.
💡 Add your property contacts here too — contractor, property manager, title company. One place for everything related to that address.
Watch your Freedom Goal update
Your dashboard tracks how close your portfolio is to replacing your income completely. As you add properties and cash flow grows, your Freedom Goal percentage climbs in real time.

Chapter 4

Set up accounting

No more shoebox at tax time. Income Builder's accounting module tracks every dollar at the property level and generates reports your CPA will actually love.

Connect your bank account
Import your bank statements directly. Transactions pull in automatically and get matched to the right property based on your accounts and LLCs.
Categorize transactions
Income Builder auto-categorizes recurring transactions based on patterns — same mortgage amount, same property, every month. Review and confirm, or adjust any category manually.
💡 Set up LLC-per-property tagging to keep entity accounting clean and audit-ready.
Run your reports
Generate a P&L, Schedule E, or Rent Roll in two clicks. Share a link with your CPA or download a PDF. No formatting required on your end.

Chapter 5

Find off-market deals with direct mail

The best deals never hit the MLS. Direct mail puts you in front of motivated sellers before anyone else knows the property is available.

Build a mailing list
Filter homeowners by location, property type, ownership length, and other demographics — right inside the platform. No spreadsheet upload needed.
Design your mailer
Choose from a template or create your own postcard design with your branding. Customize the message for your target market.
Place your order
Income Builder prints and mails directly to every homeowner on your list. You get calls from motivated sellers. No trips to the post office.

Chapter 6