9211 S Highland Ave · Garfield Heights, OH ● Oct 2019 – Dec 2025 ● Actual figures from closing docs & Schedule E

Same cash.
Three very different endings.

The same out-of-pocket dollars — $23,489 at closing in late 2019, plus $1,924 more in 2020 when the rental ran negative — placed into a rental house, a total-market index fund, and a high-yield savings account. Nothing else added, nothing withdrawn.

Conservative view: value after realtor & closing costs.
Highland Ave rental
$84,098
~25% / yr · equity + $18.6k rent cash collected
VTSAX (total US market)
$56,055
~14.4% / yr · dividends reinvested
High-yield savings
$29,600
~2.6% / yr · top online rates each year

What the numbered points on the house line mean

  1. 12019Bought for $60,000. $12k down + closing costs + $5.5k rehab. Closing costs mean the house starts “underwater” on paper.
  2. 22020The hard year. $6.0k of repairs; the property needed another $1,924 of fresh cash (the index scenarios get the same deposit).
  3. 32021Self-sustaining. From here rent covers the mortgage, taxes, insurance and repairs — every later dollar is distribution, not contribution.
  4. 42022Stress test. VTSAX falls 19.5%; the house keeps paying rent and appreciating. Leverage on a $60k asset does the heavy lifting.
  5. 52025Today. Zestimate $118,800 against a ~$43.8k loan balance, plus $18,644 of cumulative rent cash flow already collected.
Assumptions, so this stays honest: House values between purchase ($60,000, Oct 2019) and today’s Zestimate ($118,800) are interpolated along Zillow’s published trend — Zillow’s own range is $103k–$133k, which moves the house’s return between roughly 21% and 28% annualized. “If sold” deducts 8% selling costs; “paper equity” deducts none. 2025 rental cash flow estimated at $4,000 (2019–2024 are actual tax figures). Cumulative rent cash is shown uninvested; reinvesting it would raise the house line further. VTSAX uses actual annual total returns (2020–2025: +21.0%, +25.7%, −19.5%, +26.0%, +23.7%, +17.1%). HYSA uses representative top online-savings APYs (≈1.0%, 0.5%, 1.5%, 4.3%, 4.4%, 3.9%). Pre-tax throughout: a sale would trigger depreciation recapture and capital gains; VTSAX would owe tax on dividends and gains. Not investment advice — one property, one zip code, one lucky-and-well-bought outcome.