BRRRR Calculator
Buy, rehab, rent, refinance: how much cash comes back out and what return stays in the deal. 100% free, no signup. Everything runs in your browser.
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BRRRR stands for Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat, and this free calculator runs the whole strategy end to end. Enter what you paid, what the rehab cost, and what the property should appraise for once the work is done. Set a refinance LTV (I default it to 75 percent because that is the number most lenders quote, but it is fully editable), add your rent and expenses, and the tool shows you the five numbers that actually matter: cash pulled back out at the refinance, cash still left in the deal, equity remaining, monthly cash flow after the new payment, and your cash-on-cash return on the money that stayed behind.
Everything runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, nothing is saved on a server, and there is no signup. I built this because most BRRRR spreadsheets I have seen treat the refinance as a footnote, when the refinance is the entire point of the strategy.
How to use
- Enter the purchase price, rehab budget, and buying costs to establish your total cash into the deal.
- Set the after-repair value, which is your best estimate of the appraised value once the rehab is finished.
- Pick a refinance LTV percentage. The default is 75, but type in whatever your lender actually quotes.
- Enter the new loan rate and term so the calculator can work out your post-refinance monthly payment.
- Add monthly rent, a vacancy percentage, and operating expenses like taxes, insurance, and maintenance.
- Read the results: cash pulled out, cash left in, equity remaining, monthly cash flow, and cash-on-cash return.
- Change any input and the numbers update instantly, so you can stress test the deal before you commit.
Why use our brrrr calculator?
The metric this tool is really built around is cash-on-cash return on the money left in the deal. If you put 80,000 dollars into a purchase and rehab and the refinance hands you back 60,000, your return should be measured against the 20,000 that stayed behind, not the original 80. That is the honest way to compare a BRRRR deal against simply buying a turnkey rental, and it is the number I check first on every deal I model. My cash-on-cash return calculator does the same math for a straight purchase if you want the comparison.
You will hear BRRRR investors talk about infinite returns, meaning the refinance returned every dollar they put in. The calculator flags that case, and I want to be straight about what it means: your cash is out, but the property now carries a bigger loan, and that debt has to be serviced by the rent every single month. An infinite return on paper can still be a negative cash flow property in practice, which is why the post-refi cash flow figure sits right next to it.
Every assumption is editable because I have no idea what closing costs, rates, or rents look like in your zip code, and I refuse to pretend otherwise. All the figures this tool produces are estimates for planning, not financial advice. BRRRR is an investor convention rather than anything a regulator defines, so there is no official specification to point you at. The part that is governed is the refinance, and the CFPB covers what a lender will look at in preparing to shop for your mortgage.
The refinance step deserves real numbers, not a guess. The tool computes the new payment from the loan amount, rate, and term you enter, the same math as my refinance calculator, so the cash flow figure reflects the actual debt you will carry after the cash-out. And because the whole thing is local math in your browser, you can model a deal with real numbers without those numbers ever leaving your machine.
Who is this tool for?
Analyzing a prospective deal is the obvious one. Before you write an offer on that dated three-bed in Columbus or Memphis, plug in the purchase price, the contractor's rehab quote, and a conservative ARV, and see whether the refinance actually frees up enough cash to justify the work.
Comparing refinance LTVs is where the tool earns its keep. A lender offering 80 percent LTV pulls more cash out but leaves you with a bigger payment. Toggle between 70, 75, and 80 and watch how cash flow and cash left in trade off against each other.
Deciding between flipping and holding. If the numbers show the refi leaves too much cash trapped, the same property might work better as a flip. I keep my house flip calculator open in a second tab for exactly that comparison.
Stress testing before the appraisal. Knock 10 percent off your ARV and see what happens to the cash out. If the deal only works at the optimistic appraisal, you will know before the bank tells you.
Frequently asked questions
Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat. You buy a distressed property, renovate it, rent it out, refinance based on the new higher value to pull your cash back out, then use that cash for the next deal.
Most lenders quote 70 to 80 percent of appraised value on investment property cash-out refinances, which is why I default to 75. Your actual number depends on the lender, the property, and your profile, so edit the field to match a real quote.
It is the case where the refinance returns all of your invested cash, so the cash-on-cash denominator is zero. The label sounds magical, but the new loan is real and the rent has to cover it. I show the post-refi cash flow right next to it so the debt never disappears from view.
Not directly. Many lenders require you to own the property for six months or more before a cash-out refinance based on the new appraised value. Bake that into your holding cost estimate, because you carry the original financing until the refi closes.
No. Every output is an estimate built from the assumptions you type in, and real deals involve appraisals, lender overlays, and local costs I cannot know. Use it to screen and compare deals, then verify with your lender and your own due diligence.
No. The entire calculator runs in your browser and nothing you type is sent anywhere. You can even disconnect from the internet after the page loads and it keeps working.
Then the refinance pulls out less cash and more of your money stays in the deal. Rerun the numbers at the lower value before you panic. A good BRRRR should survive a modest appraisal miss, and the rental yield calculator can tell you whether the property still performs as a plain rental.