Rental Property Calculator
Monthly cash flow, cap rate, cash-on-cash return, gross rent multiplier and the 1% rule for a rental property — with vacancy, management and maintenance priced in.
Rental Property Calculator: with the default inputs, monthly cash flow is -$181.93.
Investment property loans usually want 20–25% down.
Investor loans price roughly 0.5–0.75 points above owner-occupied.
What the unit actually rents for, not the asking price.
The US rental vacancy rate was 7.3% in Q2 2026 (Census Housing Vacancy Survey).
Title, lender fees, inspection, transfer tax — cash you never get back.
After the mortgage, vacancy and every operating expense.
- Annual cash flow
- -$2,183
- Cap rate
- 5.52%Net operating income ÷ purchase price. Ignores financing, so it compares properties, not deals.
- Cash-on-cash return
- -2.31%Annual cash flow ÷ cash invested. This is the one that measures your deal.
- Gross rent multiplier
- 10.4Price ÷ annual gross rent. Lower is cheaper; 8–12 is typical.
- 1% rule
- 0.8% of price — fails the 1% rule
- Net operating income (annual)
- $19,305
- Operating expenses (annual)
- $11,842
- Mortgage payments (annual)
- $21,489
- Total cash invested
- $94,500
- Rent that breaks even
- $3,013The rent at which cash flow is exactly zero, at this vacancy rate.
- Equity after 10 years
- $243,806
Assumptions
- Net operating income excludes debt service, as the standard definition requires; cash flow subtracts it.
- The default vacancy rate of 7.3% is the US rental vacancy rate for Q2 2026 from the Census Bureau's Housing Vacancy Survey (released 28 July 2026). Your submarket will differ.
- Management is charged on rent actually collected; maintenance and property tax are charged as a percentage of purchase price.
- Income taxes, depreciation, passive-activity loss limits and depreciation recapture are not modelled.
- The projection grows rent and non-management expenses at the rates you set and appreciates value at a constant rate; capital expenditures are spread through the maintenance reserve rather than scheduled.
- Selling costs, refinancing and 1031 exchanges are out of scope.
- Mortgage$21,48960%
- Property tax$3,85011%
- Insurance$2,0006%
- Maintenance$3,50010%
- Management$2,4927%
- Vacancy$2,4537%
| Year | Monthly rent | NOI | Cash flow | Property value | Equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,800 | $19,305 | -$2,183 | $360,500 | $100,541 |
| 2 | $2,884 | $19,885 | -$1,604 | $371,315 | $114,087 |
| 3 | $2,971 | $20,481 | -$1,007 | $382,454 | $128,162 |
| 4 | $3,060 | $21,096 | -$393 | $393,928 | $142,791 |
| 5 | $3,151 | $21,728 | $240 | $405,746 | $158,002 |
| 6 | $3,246 | $22,380 | $892 | $417,918 | $173,821 |
| 7 | $3,343 | $23,052 | $1,563 | $430,456 | $190,278 |
| 8 | $3,444 | $23,743 | $2,255 | $443,370 | $207,406 |
| 9 | $3,547 | $24,456 | $2,967 | $456,671 | $225,237 |
| 10 | $3,653 | $25,189 | $3,701 | $470,371 | $243,806 |
Rent and non-management expenses grow at the rates you set; management scales with collected rent; the loan amortizes on schedule.
How this is worked out
The formula
Effective gross income = rent × 12 × (1 − vacancy rate) Operating expenses = tax + insurance + maintenance + management + HOA + other (never the mortgage) Net operating income = effective gross income − operating expenses Cash flow = NOI − annual mortgage payments Cap rate = NOI ÷ purchase price Cash-on-cash = annual cash flow ÷ (down payment + closing costs) Gross rent multiplier = purchase price ÷ annual gross rent
Open How it’s calculated above to see this worked through with your own numbers.
What you enter
- Purchase price
- A number.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 350000
- Down payment
- Investment property loans usually want 20–25% down.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 87500
- Interest rate
- Investor loans price roughly 0.5–0.75 points above owner-occupied.a percentage · from 0 to 30 · defaults to 7.25
- Loan term
- A number.from 1 to 40 · whole numbers only · defaults to 30
- Monthly rent
- What the unit actually rents for, not the asking price.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 2800
- Vacancy rate
- The US rental vacancy rate was 7.3% in Q2 2026 (Census Housing Vacancy Survey).a percentage · from 0 to 100 · defaults to 7.3
- Closing costs
- Title, lender fees, inspection, transfer tax — cash you never get back.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 7000
- Property tax(under More options)
- A number.a percentage · from 0 to 10 · defaults to 1.1
- Landlord insurance(under More options)
- Dwelling policies cost more than owner-occupied homeowners insurance.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 2000
- Maintenance & capital reserve(under More options)
- Roofs, water heaters and turnovers. 1% of value a year is the common reserve.a percentage · from 0 to 20 · defaults to 1
- Property management(under More options)
- Charge yourself this even if you self-manage — your time is not free.a percentage · from 0 to 50 · defaults to 8
- HOA dues(under More options)
- A number.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 0
- Other expenses(under More options)
- Landlord-paid utilities, lawn care, licences.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 0
- Annual appreciation(under More options)
- A number.a percentage · from -20 to 30 · defaults to 3
- Annual rent growth(under More options)
- A number.a percentage · from -20 to 30 · defaults to 3
What you get back
- Monthly cash flowmain answer
- After the mortgage, vacancy and every operating expense.
- Annual cash flow
- Cap rate
- Net operating income ÷ purchase price. Ignores financing, so it compares properties, not deals.
- Cash-on-cash return
- Annual cash flow ÷ cash invested. This is the one that measures your deal.
- Gross rent multiplier
- Price ÷ annual gross rent. Lower is cheaper; 8–12 is typical.
- 1% rule
- Net operating income (annual)
- Operating expenses (annual)
- Mortgage payments (annual)
- Total cash invested
- Rent that breaks even
- The rent at which cash flow is exactly zero, at this vacancy rate.
- Equity after 10 years
What this assumes
- Net operating income excludes debt service, as the standard definition requires; cash flow subtracts it.
- The default vacancy rate of 7.3% is the US rental vacancy rate for Q2 2026 from the Census Bureau's Housing Vacancy Survey (released 28 July 2026). Your submarket will differ.
- Management is charged on rent actually collected; maintenance and property tax are charged as a percentage of purchase price.
- Income taxes, depreciation, passive-activity loss limits and depreciation recapture are not modelled.
- The projection grows rent and non-management expenses at the rates you set and appreciates value at a constant rate; capital expenditures are spread through the maintenance reserve rather than scheduled.
- Selling costs, refinancing and 1031 exchanges are out of scope.
About this calculator
A rental either produces cash every month or it does not, and the difference between the two is almost always an expense the buyer left out. This calculator forces all of them in: vacancy, management, a real maintenance reserve, and the closing costs that quietly raise the denominator of your return. Then it reports the four numbers investors actually compare — cash flow, cap rate, cash-on-cash and gross rent multiplier — plus the 1% rule as a quick screen.
The four metrics, and what each is for
Cap rate is net operating income divided by price. It deliberately ignores your mortgage, which is what makes it useful: it describes the property, so you can compare a cash purchase in one market with a leveraged one in another. Cash-on-cash divides your actual annual cash flow by the actual cash you put in, so it describes the deal — the same house at 25% down and at 40% down has one cap rate and two very different cash-on-cash returns. Gross rent multiplier is price divided by annual gross rent, a fast comparison that says nothing about expenses. And the 1% rule — monthly rent at least 1% of price — is a screening heuristic from a lower-rate era; at today's mortgage rates a property at exactly 1% frequently still fails to cash flow, which the calculator will show you.
How to use it
Start with the price, the actual rent (not the listing's aspiration) and your financing. Open More options for the expense stack. Two defaults matter more than the rest: maintenance at 1% of value a year, which is what a full hold period costs once you count the roof and the water heater, and management at 8% of collected rent, which you should charge yourself even if you self-manage — otherwise you are valuing your own weekends at zero and the numbers collapse the day you hire someone. Vacancy defaults to the national rate; a hot market may run 4%, a soft one 12%.
Use Solve for → Purchase price with a target cash-on-cash return to work out what the property is worth to you, which is the only price that matters when you are bidding.
Reading the results
- Rent that breaks even is the honest test of your rent assumption. If it is close to market rent, you have no margin for a bad tenant.
- Equity after 10 years combines appreciation and loan paydown. Note how much of a leveraged rental's return comes from these rather than from cash flow — and that appreciation is an assumption, not an income.
- A negative monthly cash flow means you are subsidising a bet on price growth. That can be a rational bet; it is not an investment that pays you.
Where this breaks down
Taxes are ignored entirely — depreciation, the deduction of mortgage interest and operating costs, passive-activity loss limits and depreciation recapture on sale can all move the after-tax result substantially, in both directions. The model assumes stable rent growth and a straight-line appreciation rate; real markets deliver neither. It does not model a capital-expenditure schedule, so a year with a new roof will look nothing like the table. And it prices one property in isolation: insurance availability, local rent regulation and eviction timelines vary enormously by state and can matter more than any number here.
Frequently asked questions
▸What is a good cap rate for a rental property?
It depends on the market and the risk. Stabilised properties in large metros often trade at 4–6%; smaller markets and older buildings at 7–10%. A cap rate far above the local norm is usually compensation for vacancy risk, deferred maintenance or a weak submarket, not a bargain.
▸What is the 1% rule?
A screening shortcut: monthly rent should be at least 1% of the purchase price. It was a reasonable proxy for cash flow when mortgage rates were 4%; at 7% many 1% properties still lose money, so treat it as a first filter and let the cash-flow number decide.
▸Does cap rate include the mortgage?
No. Cap rate is net operating income over price, and net operating income never includes debt service. That is the point — it lets you compare properties independently of how each buyer financed them. Cash-on-cash return is the metric that includes your loan.
▸How much should I budget for maintenance and vacancy?
A common reserve is 1% of property value a year for maintenance and capital items, plus 5–10% of rent for vacancy depending on the market. The US rental vacancy rate was 7.3% in the second quarter of 2026 (Census Bureau Housing Vacancy Survey).
▸Are the tax benefits included?
No. Depreciation, interest and expense deductions, passive-activity loss rules and depreciation recapture on sale are all excluded. For most leveraged rentals depreciation shelters a meaningful share of the cash flow, so the after-tax result is usually better than the pre-tax figure shown here — until you sell.
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