Run the full numbers on a rental in seconds: monthly cash flow, cash-on-cash return, cap rate, and the annualized return (IRR) you'd actually earn through sale, including loan paydown and appreciation. You get charts, a year-by-year table, and plain-English explanations of every term. Free, instant, and no email required.
Start with three questions: does it cash flow, what does your cash earn, and what is the total return at sale? Take the gross rent, subtract a realistic vacancy allowance (about 5%), then subtract operating expenses: taxes, insurance, maintenance, a CapEx reserve, management, and any owner-paid utilities or HOA. That leaves net operating income (NOI). Subtract the mortgage payment and you have cash flow. Finally, project value growth and loan paydown over your hold period to see the full return. The calculator above does every step live and shows the year-by-year math.
Cash-on-cash return is your first-year cash flow divided by the total cash you actually invested: down payment, closing costs, and up-front repairs. Unlike cap rate, it includes your mortgage, so it answers the question investors care about most: "what is the cash I put in earning?" Formula: Cash-on-Cash = Annual Cash Flow ÷ Total Cash Invested × 100.
There's no universal number, but useful anchors: many buy-and-hold investors look for 5% to 8% or better cash-on-cash in year one, and a total IRR (including loan paydown, appreciation, and sale) of 10% to 15% or better over a long hold. Markets differ: appreciation-heavy metros often have thin or negative early cash flow, while cash-flow markets offer higher yields with slower value growth. Compare against your alternatives: if a deal's IRR can't beat a boring index fund, the headaches need to be worth something.
The 1% rule is a 10-second screen: a property's monthly rent should be at least 1% of its purchase price ($2,500/mo on a $250,000 house). Properties that pass have a good shot at positive cash flow with conventional financing; properties far below it rarely pencil. It's a filter, not a verdict; taxes, insurance, and rates vary too much to skip the full analysis. The calculator shows a pass/fail check automatically.
Internal rate of return (IRR) is the single annual rate that explains every cash flow in the deal: the cash you put in at purchase (negative), the cash flow you collect each year, and the net proceeds when you sell (sale price minus selling costs and the remaining loan balance). It captures what cash-on-cash misses (equity built by the tenant paying down your loan, plus appreciation), which is why a rental with modest monthly cash flow can still post a double-digit IRR. Our calculator computes IRR for your chosen hold period and for every year in the table, so you can see when selling makes sense.
Yes: 100% free, no account, no email, unlimited use. It's part of Advanced Collection Bureau's free toolkit for landlords and property managers.
Yes. Enter your down payment, rate, and term and it computes the monthly principal & interest, full amortization, the loan balance in every year, and your payoff at sale. Toggle the loan off for an all-cash analysis.
Many investors target 5% to 8% or better in year one, but it depends on the market and your goals. Appreciation markets often start lower; cash-flow markets higher. Judge the full IRR over your hold period, not just year one.
Because cash-on-cash only counts the rent left over each month, while IRR also counts the loan being paid down with the tenant's rent and the property appreciating, both of which you collect when you sell.
Property taxes, insurance, maintenance, a CapEx reserve for big-ticket items (roof, HVAC), property management, owner-paid utilities, HOA dues, and a vacancy allowance. Forgetting CapEx and vacancy is the most common way new landlords overestimate returns.
Yes, free and with no account needed. Save each scenario with a name (up to 8) and the calculator builds a side-by-side comparison table of price, rent, monthly cash flow, cash-on-cash, cap rate, NOI, IRR, and cash invested, with the best number in each row highlighted. You can also copy a share link that reopens the calculator with your exact inputs, and run a one-click stress test (vacancy doubled, rate +1%, rent −10%) to see whether the deal still cash-flows. Everything is stored in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
They're as good as your assumptions. The math (amortization, NOI, IRR) is exact; rents, expenses, and appreciation are estimates you control. Test conservative numbers: a deal that only works at 5% appreciation isn't a cash-flow deal, it's a bet.
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