Rental Property Calculator: Cash Flow and Exit Analysis
Cash on cash return calculator for rentals: nominal pre-tax cash flow measured against cash in, an assumed exit, costs spelled out, loan terms frozen.
What This Calculator Does
Here you see what a rental's operations pay each year, nominal and before tax, next to your starting cash. Any sale is a scenario you assume. Money already spent on startup and reserves you haven't touched go in separate inputs. Operating inputs stay constant, and P&I ends once the loan is paid off. The output is no green light. It also isn't the complete accounting profit, and it doesn't plan your household's liquidity.
Who Is This For
This page suits Florida rental investors, and agents trying their own scenarios. Try the edges: an all-cash buy, total vacancy, a falling value. Don't borrow a commission, insurance cost or lending benchmark that supposedly fits everyone. Put in real quotes, or assumptions you can name.
How It Works
Start with the purchase price, then the down payment, entered as a percent or in dollars. Rent goes in as the combined total for the whole property. Fill in monthly expenses, yearly repairs and the vacancy you expect. Cash closing costs and any additional startup outlay are entered after credits; type 0 where nothing applies. Next choose how long you'll hold, how much the value moves each year, up or down, and what the sale will cost. Borrowing requires a rate and a term, while an all-cash purchase skips both. Units and area are optional. Press Calculate and the results appear: cash flow, returns, payback, and sale proceeds that can be plus or minus.
Frequently Asked Questions
What goes into the upfront cash behind a cash on cash return?
Think of it as the cash going into the property. Down payment, cash paid at closing and startup spending that really happens all count, each after credits. Reserves you retain don't. Neither does refundable escrow, and prepaid or recurring costs are tallied elsewhere, so they stay out too. Spending doesn't automatically raise resale value, and this isn't your household's whole savings. Later capital calls and money moving into or out of reserves aren't modeled.
Do rent and costs shift from year to year, and can vacancy hit 100%?
No. You enter rent, operating costs, repairs per year and vacancy once, and they stay constant through the whole holding period. Rent is the scheduled amount for the entire property rather than a per-unit figure. For scenario tests, vacancy can be set within 0–100% and annual value change anywhere from −100% to 100%. Those are test ranges, not official market limits. The model includes no income tax, no depreciation and no mortgage insurance, and no live data fills in your assumptions.
If I buy with cash or type a percentage down, what changes, and how are units and area read?
When the down payment equals the price, the calculator hides DSCR and doesn't need a rate or term. If there's a loan, payments stop once it's paid off. A percent down becomes dollars just once, rounded to the closest cent. You can leave units out; if you fill them in, use a whole number, so 2.0 reads as 2, never 20. Area stays exactly as typed, with up to two decimals and no symbols or commas: 1200.5 sq ft is kept as 1200.5. Blank or 0 in either field means unknown, not a property of zero size. Neither field multiplies rent, and neither triggers a square-meter conversion.
What separates IRR from average annual growth, and how does a loss show up?
Because IRR assumes every annual cash flow lands at year-end and sale proceeds arrive in the final year, it can differ a lot from a simple average. It hunts for a rate between −99% and 1000%. If the cash flows don't produce a unique solution, you'll read "not available" and no rate is forced. Average annual growth is simpler and blunter: only the start and end values matter, so the timing of cash and any reinvestment are ignored. If the end value isn't positive, the calculator displays −100% as a loss marker. That figure isn't a true growth rate, and it doesn't limit how many dollars you can lose. Negative results appear with a minus sign.
What does the "months until cash flow returns your cash" figure measure?
Payback accumulates rental cash flow month by month until it covers your upfront cash. Assumptions hold constant, and loan payments end at payoff, so a negative first year doesn't rule payback out. Treat a payback past your holding period as a projection; it's no plan. Simple payback is separate: it assumes first-year monthly cash flow lasts forever, and it isn't a forecast. Neither payback figure includes the sale. Results of "never" and "no upfront cash" are displayed separately.
If a ratio lands in a favorable band or the sale shows cash back, does that mean approval or profit?
No. The 1.25/1.00 DSCR bands and the 10/15/20 GRM bands are rules of thumb, not grades and not universal rules. NOI leaves out the loan payment, and GRM is figured on rent before vacancy. At zero rent, neither GRM nor break-even occupancy can be computed. Equity appears before selling costs come out, while sale cash is net of them and then reduced by the scheduled loan balance; that isn't a real payoff or a tax settlement. A result above $10 trillion can't be shown, a limit of the calculator itself, not a forecast or a lending cap. Verify quotes separately.