Enter the details of two notes and instantly compare yield, discount, LTV, and cash flow — with a clear recommendation on which one to buy.
Fill in the note details above and click Calculate to see the comparison.
When you have two notes in front of you and need to decide which one to buy, this tool runs the numbers on both simultaneously and gives you a side-by-side verdict. Enter the details for each note and hit Compare — you'll get yield, discount, LTV (if you provide property values), and a plain-English recommendation.
Keep in mind that the numbers are only one part of the decision. Due diligence — verifying documents, confirming property value, and checking the borrower's payment history — matters just as much as the math.
It's easy to talk yourself into a mediocre deal when you're only looking at it in isolation — the numbers seem fine because you have nothing to measure them against. Putting two notes side by side forces an honest comparison: Note A might look attractive until you see Note B sitting right next to it with a meaningfully better yield and a lower LTV for a similar price. If you're actively building a note portfolio, get in the habit of running every serious opportunity against at least one alternative before committing capital.
No single metric wins the decision on its own. A note with a slightly lower yield but a much stronger LTV may be the smarter buy for an investor who prioritizes downside protection over maximum return.
This comparison is only as good as the numbers you enter. It can't tell you whether the borrower has a reliable payment history, whether the property is in good condition, or whether the seller's paperwork is clean. Treat a favorable comparison as a green light to move into full due diligence — not as a substitute for it.
Two notes can show nearly identical yields while behaving completely differently as investments, and the reason is almost always remaining term. A note with 180 months left and one with 60 months left at the same yield are not equivalent holdings. The short note returns your capital far sooner, which means you get to redeploy it — but it also means the income stream you just bought disappears in five years and you are back to hunting for the next deal.
The longer note locks in that yield for fifteen years, which is excellent if you bought at a strong rate and frustrating if rates climb and your capital is committed at yesterday's number. Neither is universally better. What matters is matching term to your actual goal: an investor building predictable long-term income should weight duration heavily, while someone actively recycling capital into new deals may prefer the shorter paper even at a slightly lower yield.
The balloon field on this page is optional, and leaving it blank when a balloon actually exists will produce a comparison that is meaningfully wrong. A balloon means a large lump sum comes due at a fixed future date rather than the loan amortizing to zero. That single payment can represent a substantial share of your total return.
It also concentrates your risk into one moment. Regular monthly payments are spread across years, and a borrower who misses one can catch up. A balloon requires the borrower to either refinance or sell on a specific date, and if credit has tightened or the property has lost value, they may be unable to do either. Note A yielding 11% through steady amortization and Note B yielding 12% where a third of the return sits in a balloon four years out are not the same risk profile, whatever the yield column says. Always enter the balloon if there is one, then ask yourself how confident you are that it actually gets paid.
Seasoning is how long the borrower has been making payments on the note. It is one of the strongest predictors of whether they will continue, and it is deliberately not an input here because it cannot be reduced to a number that averages meaningfully against yield.
A note with 48 months of clean, on-time payments carries a genuinely different risk profile than a freshly originated note with three payments of history, even at identical yield and LTV. The borrower has demonstrated behaviour through job changes, seasons and whatever life threw at them. When two notes come out close on this page, seasoning is frequently the tiebreaker — and it should usually beat a half-point of yield.
Ask for a full pay history, not a summary. What you want to see is not just whether payments arrived but when. A borrower who consistently pays on the 28th of the month is fine. A borrower whose payments wander later each month is telling you something is deteriorating, and that pattern will not show up in any yield calculation.
The tool will happily compare any two sets of numbers you enter, including pairs that should never be evaluated against each other. A first-position lien and a second-position lien are fundamentally different instruments — the second only gets paid after the first is satisfied in full, which in a foreclosure often means not at all. Comparing them on yield alone is close to meaningless.
The same applies to a performing note versus a non-performing one, or a note secured by a single-family residence versus one secured by raw land or a mobile home without permanent foundation. Before you trust a side-by-side result, confirm the two notes are actually the same kind of asset. If they aren't, the comparison is telling you very little.
Enter the purchase price, UPB, monthly payment, and remaining term for both notes, plus property values if you have them. The tool calculates yield, discount, cents on the dollar, and LTV for each note and shows them side by side with a plain-English recommendation. Compare yield for return, LTV for safety, and discount for your equity cushion.
Annual yield tells you your actual return on invested capital. LTV tells you how protected you are if the borrower defaults. Discount percentage shows how much cushion you're buying below face value. Remaining term affects how long your capital stays committed. No single metric decides the deal — the best notes score well across several at once.
It depends on your risk tolerance and goals. Higher yield means more return but usually more risk. Lower LTV means a bigger equity cushion protecting your principal if you have to foreclose. Conservative investors typically favor the lower LTV note; investors comfortable with more risk may accept higher LTV for a better return. A note that wins on both is rare and worth moving on quickly.
Start with the numbers — yield, LTV, discount, and term. If the math works, move into due diligence: verify the property value independently with a BPO or appraisal, review the complete pay history for seasoning, confirm the chain of title is clean, and check that the note and mortgage documents are properly assigned. Good numbers on a note with broken paperwork is not a good deal.
I built this comparison tool because I kept catching myself evaluating notes one at a time and forgetting what a "good" deal actually looks like relative to what else is out there. Once I started running every serious opportunity side-by-side against at least one alternative, my decision-making got noticeably sharper — a deal that felt exciting on its own sometimes looked mediocre next to a second option.
One thing I always remind myself: the note with the better numbers on this page isn't automatically the better note to buy. If Note A wins on paper but I haven't verified the borrower's payment history or the property condition, I still walk it through full due diligence before I commit a dollar.