🏘️ Rental Property Calculator
A rental lives or dies on cash flow: rent minus vacancy, operating expenses and the mortgage payment. This calculator also reports the cap rate and the cash-on-cash return, which tells you what your actual down payment earns each year.
Vacancy and expenses are estimates, so be honest with them. A property that only works with zero vacancy and zero repairs is not a deal.
How to use this calculator
Enter the purchase price, down payment percent, loan rate and term, plus rent, expenses and vacancy, to get cash flow, cap rate and cash-on-cash return.
- Type the Purchase price and your Down payment percent.
- Enter the loan's Annual interest rate and Term.
- Add the Monthly rent, Monthly expenses and Vacancy rate.
- Press Calculate to see the investment returns.
Frequently asked questions
What is cash-on-cash return?
Annual cash flow divided by the cash you actually invested (the down payment), as a percent. It answers: what does my down payment earn me each year?
How is vacancy handled?
Expected rent is reduced by the vacancy percent before expenses and the mortgage payment are subtracted, so the cash flow reflects empty months.
Can you walk through an example?
A $250,000 property with 20% down at 7% over 30 years, renting for $2,200 with $600 expenses and 5% vacancy, gives about $159.40 a month of cash flow, a 3.83% cash-on-cash return and a 7.15% cap rate.
What is missing from this analysis?
Property taxes and insurance should sit inside expenses, but appreciation, tax benefits, major repairs and rent growth are not modelled. Treat it as a screening tool.