BRRRR & House Hacking ROI Calculator
See exactly how much cash stays in your deal, your monthly cash flow, and your true return — before you buy. Type or drag any slider; results update instantly.
How to Use This Calculator
Follow these steps in order — each section feeds the next, and every result on the right updates live as you type or drag a slider.
- Enter the purchase. Add the purchase price, your down-payment percentage, closing costs, and rehab budget. The calculator totals your cash invested — the money that must come out of your pocket on day one.
- Set the initial loan. Enter the interest rate and term of the loan you’ll use to buy and rehab (many investors use hard money here), plus how many months until you refinance. This sets your mortgage payoff amount at refinance time.
- Add rental income. Enter what tenants will actually pay you each month — not including your own unit. Then add your unit’s market rent (“what would I pay to rent a place like mine?”) and a vacancy allowance. This powers the house-hacking math.
- Be honest about expenses. Annual property tax and insurance, monthly HOA, plus maintenance, CapEx, and management as percentages of rent. Underestimating expenses is the #1 way investors fool themselves — when in doubt, go higher.
- Model the refinance. Enter the after-repair value (ARV), the bank’s loan-to-value limit (usually 75%), the new rate and term, and refinance closing costs. Watch Cash left in the deal — the entire point of BRRRR is driving this number as close to zero as possible.
Reading your results
- Cash left in deal: your money still trapped in the property after refinancing. Lower is better.
- Monthly cash flow: rent minus all expenses and the new mortgage. Must stay positive after realistic expenses.
- Cash-on-cash return: annual cash flow divided by cash left in. 8–12%+ is a strong target; “infinite” means you recovered everything.
- Your housing cost: what you effectively pay to live there each month. Negative means tenants pay you.
Worked example
A $240,000 duplex: 15% down ($36,000) + $7,500 closing + $35,000 rehab = $78,500 cash in. Tenants pay $3,200/mo. After rehab it appraises at $340,000; refinancing at 75% LTV creates a $255,000 loan. Paying off the original mortgage (~$203,100) and $5,000 in refi costs returns about $46,900 to your pocket — leaving only ~$31,600 in the deal. The new $1,697 payment against $2,014 of net operating income leaves $317/month cash flow: a 12% cash-on-cash return. And since your $1,400/mo unit is now free, you’re effectively paid $317/month to live there.
What Is the BRRRR & House Hacking ROI Calculator?
The BRRRR & House Hacking ROI Calculator is a free real-estate investment calculator that tells you whether a rental deal actually works — before you buy. BRRRR stands for Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat: buy a distressed property below market value, renovate it to force appreciation, rent it out, then refinance at the new appraised value to pull your cash back out and repeat. House hacking means living in one unit of a small multifamily property while tenants cover most or all of the mortgage.
This calculator merges both strategies. It runs the full BRRRR refinance math — including your mortgage payoff balance at refinance — and layers house-hacking metrics on top: your effective monthly housing cost and your true return including the rent you no longer pay yourself. Type or drag any slider; every result updates instantly.
The Exact Formula Behind the Math
Every number on this page comes from standard real-estate finance formulas. Total cash invested = down payment + closing costs + rehab budget. The monthly mortgage payment uses the amortization formula M = P × r(1+r)n ÷ ((1+r)n − 1). Effective gross income = (rent + other income) × (1 − vacancy rate). Net operating income (NOI) = effective gross income − operating expenses: taxes, insurance, HOA, maintenance, CapEx, and management.
The refinance is where BRRRR lives or dies. New loan = ARV × LTV. Cash pulled out = new loan − mortgage payoff − refinance closing costs. Capital left in the deal = cash invested − cash pulled out. Monthly cash flow = NOI − new mortgage payment. Cash-on-cash return = annual cash flow ÷ capital left × 100. House hacking adds imputed rent: effective housing cost = (expenses + mortgage) − tenant rent; house-hack ROI = (annual cash flow + your unit’s market rent × 12) ÷ capital left.
Why This Matters for Real-Estate Investors
BRRRR only works if the refinance returns your capital. Misjudge the ARV or the bank’s LTV and your cash stays trapped, killing your ability to repeat. This calculator exposes the metric that matters most: capital left in the deal. A great BRRRR leaves little or none of your money behind — that’s how investors scale from one property to many without saving a fresh down payment each time.
House hacking matters because housing is most people’s largest expense. When tenants cover the mortgage, your effective housing cost drops toward zero — or below it, meaning you’re paid to live there — while you still build equity and capture appreciation. Modeling both together prevents the two classic mistakes: overestimating cash flow by ignoring real expenses, and underestimating returns by ignoring the rent you stopped paying.
We Got Answers
What is the BRRRR method in real estate investing?
BRRRR stands for Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat. You buy a below-market property, renovate it to force appreciation, rent it out, then refinance at the new appraised value (ARV) — typically up to 75% loan-to-value — to recover most or all of your invested cash, which you then use to repeat the process on the next property.
What is a good cash-on-cash return for a BRRRR deal?
Most investors target 8–12% or higher on the capital left in the deal, with positive monthly cash flow after realistic expenses. The ultimate BRRRR outcome is an “infinite” return: the refinance returns 100% of your cash while the property still cash-flows, leaving you with zero dollars trapped in a performing asset.
How does house hacking change the ROI calculation?
House hacking adds “imputed rent” — the market rent of the unit you live in — to your return, because every month you live there is rent you don’t pay a landlord. Your effective housing cost equals total monthly property costs minus tenant rental income. When that number hits zero or goes negative, your tenants are covering your housing while you build equity.