615 N Main St, Washington, PA 15301 — 34.0% Cash-on-Cash

About this property

615 N Main St is a fully renovated 4-bedroom, 2-bathroom single-family property in Washington, PA 15301, offering 2,034 square feet on a 7,501-square-foot fenced city lot.

The renovation here goes beyond cosmetic. The listing describes brand-new appliances, a new air conditioning unit, and new flooring throughout — the kind of capital expenditure that typically falls on a new owner has already been absorbed into the asking price. A first-floor primary suite with a private en suite bath is a genuine functional differentiator: it broadens the tenant pool to include older renters or anyone who values single-level living, and it gives a future owner-occupant flexibility that most comparably priced properties don't offer.

Outdoor space is another angle worth pricing in. A large front porch, a new rear deck, and off-street parking at the rear are features that command rent premiums in markets where outdoor access is limited. The fenced lot adds a layer of privacy that photographs well and rents well.

The property has been on the market 178 days — longer than the comparable listings in the area, most of which moved in under 10 days. The listing price was reduced by $8,000 from the original ask. That combination of extended days-on-market and a price cut suggests either a motivated seller or a property that required patience to price correctly. The tax-assessed value sits at $96,600, roughly 59 cents on the dollar relative to the $165,000 ask — a gap that's common in markets where assessed values lag, but worth noting as a baseline.

The investment case

Rent covering 1.8 times the monthly payment is the defining financial fact here — a margin that's unusual in most markets and rare in Washington, PA, where the city average cash-on-cash return sits at negative 1.0%.

List Price

$165,000

Monthly Payment (PITI+HOA)

$1,118

Principal & Interest

$890

Property Tax

$173

Insurance

$55

HOA

$0

PMI

$0

Est. Monthly Rent

$2,054

Estimated rent based on automated valuation of comparable listings.

Cash-on-Cash Return

34.0%

Cap Rate

14.5%

Monthly Cash Flow

$936

Gross Rent Multiplier

6.7

DSCR

2.2

The numbers: at $165,000 with a 20% down payment, the total monthly payment — principal, interest, taxes, and insurance — comes to $1,118. Estimated monthly rent is $2,054, producing $936 in monthly cash flow and a 34.0% cash-on-cash return. The city average CoC is negative 1.0%, meaning most properties in Washington are cash-flow negative at standard financing terms. This property clears that bar by 35 percentage points.

The cap rate of 14.5% and net operating income of $1,999 per month further reinforce the picture. A debt service coverage ratio of 2.2 means the property generates more than twice the income needed to cover its debt obligations — a figure that most lenders look for above 1.25. Being at 2.2 provides meaningful cushion against vacancy or unexpected expenses without flipping the investment into negative territory.

The gross rent multiplier of 6.7 is low. At the city's median listing price of $310,000, a comparable GRM would imply rents well above what the market supports. Here, the price-to-rent relationship is compressed in the investor's favor.

Washington PA's top-10 investment leaderboard requires a cash-on-cash return of at least 29.13% to make the cut. At 34.0%, this property clears that threshold — placing it among the strongest cash-flow opportunities currently available in the city. Figures exclude depreciation tax benefits, which vary by individual tax situation.

Annual return outlook

The 44.0% projected 5-year total ROI is driven primarily by cash flow, with appreciation and mortgage paydown adding meaningful secondary contributions.

Breaking down the 44.0% total ROI: cash flow accounts for 34.0 percentage points, annual appreciation contributes 3.8 percentage points, and mortgage paydown adds 6.2 percentage points. Cash flow is doing the heavy lifting, which is the more defensible structure — appreciation projections carry uncertainty, while cash flow is realized monthly.

The 3.8% projected annual appreciation rate for Washington is cited from market data. At that rate, a $165,000 property would approach $198,000 in five years, adding roughly $33,000 in equity on top of ongoing cash flow and principal paydown. That's a real number, but it's the third contributor here, not the thesis. Investors who need appreciation to justify the deal are taking on more risk than this property requires.

The mortgage paydown component — 6.2 percentage points over five years — reflects the amortization benefit of a fully financed property at 6.55%. It's not dramatic, but it's compounding quietly alongside the cash flow and appreciation layers.

For a five-year hold, the return stack here is unusually front-loaded with realized income rather than speculative appreciation — a structure that tends to hold up better across different exit environments.

How it compares to nearby for-sale listings

Five active 4-bedroom listings in Washington, PA 15301 provide a pricing context for 615 N Main St, with the comp median sitting at $289,999.

At $165,000, this property is priced 43% below the $289,999 median of the five comparable for-sale listings in the area. On a price-per-square-foot basis, 615 N Main St comes in at roughly $81/sqft. The closest size comp — 231 S Lincoln St at 2,322 sqft listed at $124,900 — prices even lower per square foot, but that property hit the market just one day ago and hasn't been tested. The 53 Harrison St listing at $194,900 for 1,564 sqft implies a price-per-sqft closer to $125 — meaningfully higher for a smaller footprint.

The upper end of the comp set — $415,000 and $479,990 — reflects newer construction and larger lot configurations that aren't directly comparable to a renovated city-lot property. Stripping those out, the relevant range for a renovated 4-bed in this zip sits between $124,900 and $289,999.

The 178 days on market at 615 N Main St stands out against comps that moved in one to nine days. That gap warrants scrutiny. The $8,000 price reduction suggests the original ask was above where the market wanted to transact. At the current $165,000, the price-per-sqft positioning looks competitive relative to the active inventory — the question is whether buyer hesitation reflects something about the property or simply the longer tail of a slower listing cycle.

Rental demand in this zip

Rental comp data for 4-bedroom units in ZIP 15301 is thin — one comparable rental at $1,600 per month — which requires careful interpretation of the $2,054 estimated rent.

1 comparable rentals in ZIP 15301 — median $1,600/mo, range $1,600–$1,600/mo

The single rental comp in the 15301 ZIP for 4-bedroom units comes in at $1,600 per month. The estimated rent for 615 N Main St is $2,054 — a 28% premium over that comp. That gap deserves honest scrutiny before underwriting the deal at the higher figure.

The premium could be justified by the property's specific attributes: a fully renovated interior, new appliances, first-floor primary suite, rear deck, and off-street parking are features that command above-median rents in most markets. A tenant willing to pay for move-in-ready condition and outdoor space is a real segment. But with only one comp to anchor against, the confidence interval around the $2,054 figure is wide.

A conservative underwrite would stress-test the deal at the $1,600 comp rent. At that level, monthly cash flow drops from $936 to roughly $482, and the cash-on-cash return compresses significantly — though the property likely remains cash-flow positive given the $1,118 monthly payment. Even at the lower rent, the debt service coverage ratio stays above 1.0, which is the minimum threshold for a viable rental.

Investors should verify local 4-bedroom rental activity directly before closing, particularly given the limited comp pool. The renovation quality and specific amenities are the strongest arguments for achieving the higher rent estimate.

Who this property suits + risks to weigh

This property suits a cash-flow-focused investor comfortable with a smaller secondary market who wants immediate income rather than a speculative appreciation play.

Best fit

The investor profile here is someone who wants yield, not a story. A 34% cash-on-cash return at a $33,000 down payment entry point is accessible to a first-time landlord or a seasoned investor adding a low-maintenance asset to a portfolio. The renovation is already done — no immediate capital expenditure required beyond standard landlord reserves. The first-floor suite configuration also makes the property viable as a house-hack for an owner-occupant who wants to offset their housing cost while renting the remaining rooms.

The non-owner-occupied status in public records suggests the property has been used as a rental previously, which is a mild positive signal — it's been positioned for this use case before.

Risks to weigh

The 178-day days-on-market figure is the most visible risk signal. Extended DOM in a market where comparable listings move in under 10 days raises questions worth investigating: condition issues that photos don't capture, title complications, or simply a pricing history that eroded buyer confidence. The $8,000 price reduction partially addresses the pricing question, but the duration warrants a thorough inspection.

The rental comp pool is shallow — one comparable listing at $1,600 is a thin basis for the $2,054 rent estimate. Achieving that premium requires the property to outperform the local rental baseline, which is plausible given the renovations but not guaranteed. Vacancy risk in a smaller market like Washington, PA is also worth modeling — even a single month of vacancy meaningfully affects annual cash-on-cash in a deal of this size.