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Rental Property Calculator

Enter the deal details. Get monthly cash flow, cap rate, cash-on-cash return and total ROI in one pass.

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Results

Monthly cash flow,
Annual cash flow,
Cap rate,
Cash-on-cash return,
Total ROI,

Planning estimate, not a lender's quote.

How is rental property cash flow calculated?

Monthly cash flow equals rent collected after vacancy, minus the mortgage payment and every operating expense: taxes, insurance, HOA, maintenance and management, this site's own formula, computed live as you type. The calculator first applies your vacancy rate to effective rent, subtracts the mortgage payment and all operating expenses, then derives three additional metrics from that result: cap rate (NOI divided by price), cash-on-cash return (annual cash flow divided by cash invested), and total ROI, which adds each year's mortgage principal paydown on top of the cash flow.

Cap rate vs cash-on-cash: cap rate strips out financing so you can compare deals; cash-on-cash tells you what your actual down payment is earning.

Two more angles on the same deal

Cap rate strips out your financing entirely. Cash-on-cash isolates it. Run both once you have a cash flow number here.

The four numbers that decide a rental

Cash flow is what lands in your account each month after every expense, mortgage included. Cap rate ignores financing and shows raw earning power, NOI divided by price, which is what makes it useful for comparing two different properties. Cash-on-cash measures what your down payment is actually earning. Total ROI adds the principal paydown each year, real equity accumulation even when monthly cash flow is thin.

Don't skip the boring expenses

Vacancy, maintenance and management fees are how a deal that "cash flows" on paper becomes a monthly drain in real life. This calculator includes all three by default at industry-typical percentages. Adjust them to match your market and the deal's actual history before you sign anything.

Want to see any one of these pieces on its own? Break gross rent and vacancy loss out separately on the rental income calculator, get a full itemized expense list with a 50% rule cross-check on the cash flow calculator, or price the investor loan payment and DSCR by themselves on the loan calculator.

Where the default deal's $2,702 in monthly expenses actually goes

This calculator loads with $350,000 at 25% down, a 7% rate and $2,600 rent, the same numbers used throughout this site. Here is that exact deal broken into its monthly line items, computed straight from the fields above rather than a rounded example.

Line itemMonthly amount
Mortgage principal and interest$1,746
Property taxes$350
Insurance$117
Maintenance (1% of price/yr)$292
Management fee (8% of effective rent)$198
Total monthly expense$2,702
Effective rent after 5% vacancy$2,470
Monthly cash flow-$232

Change any input above and this specific breakdown goes out of date, since it reflects only the loaded defaults. The live results panel at the top of the page recalculates all five figures the moment you edit a field.

Good to know

Rental Cash Flow FAQs without the fluff

What is a good cap rate?

Typically 5 to 10 percent depending on local market conditions and property risk, though high-demand urban markets often run 4 to 5 percent.

What is cash-on-cash return?

Annual pre-tax cash flow divided by the total cash you put in: down payment, closing costs and any upfront repairs.

Why include vacancy/maintenance?

They are real recurring costs. Skipping them produces a gross return figure that looks better than the property actually performs.

Is this investment advice?

No. It is a planning estimate based on the inputs you provide. Verify all figures with local data before making any investment decision.