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BRRRR (Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat) works when the refinance pulls most or all of your cash back out, leaving you with a cash-flowing rental and little to no money left in the deal. This calculator walks the whole sequence: what you put in, what the refinance gives back, and what's left over once it's rented. Enter your numbers above.

How this calculator works

This assumes the classic BRRRR structure: you buy and rehab the property with cash or a short-term loan (hard money, a bridge loan, a HELOC), so your total cash invested is purchase price plus closing costs plus rehab plus any holding costs during the rehab period. Once it's rented and stabilized, you refinance into a long-term loan based on the after-repair value (ARV), and that refinance loan pays off whatever short-term financing you used and returns cash to you. If you financed the purchase itself with a separate loan you're not paying off at refinance, adjust your "total cash invested" figure manually — this tool doesn't have a field for that layer.

What the numbers mean

Cash left in the deal is your total cash invested minus what the refinance actually hands back to you after its own closing costs. Zero or negative is the BRRRR ideal — it means you got all your money back (or more) and still own a cash-flowing rental.

Cash-on-cash return is your annual cash flow divided by the cash you actually still have invested. If you pulled all your cash back out, this becomes infinite in the technical sense — you're earning cash flow on money you no longer have tied up. We label it that way rather than showing a fake percentage.

DSCR (debt service coverage ratio) is your net operating income divided by your annual mortgage payment. Most DSCR-loan lenders want to see at least 1.0-1.25, meaning the property's income covers the mortgage with some room to spare.

A few things worth knowing about the refinance step

• Conventional cash-out refinances on investment property typically max out around 75-80% loan-to-value of the appraised value (the ARV, if the appraisal supports it) — most lenders want to see 20-30% equity left after the cash-out. Confirm your specific lender's max before counting on a number.
• Investment-property refinance rates typically run about 0.5-1 percentage point above primary-residence rates.
• Most lenders require a seasoning period of 6-12 months of ownership before they'll do a cash-out refinance, and some require the ARV to be supported by an appraisal, not just your rehab receipts — budget for the property to sit through that hold period before you can pull cash back out.
• The appraisal is the single biggest risk in the whole BRRRR sequence. If it comes in under your ARV estimate, your refinance loan amount drops and more of your cash stays stuck in the deal. Be conservative with your ARV assumption, not optimistic.

Frequently asked questions

What if my cash left in the deal comes out negative?

That means the refinance handed back more than you put in — you pulled a profit out at closing on top of owning a rental free and clear of your own cash. It happens on deals with a lot of forced-appreciation upside from the rehab, but don't plan on it as the norm.

How do I estimate ARV accurately?

Pull recent, truly comparable sales — same neighborhood, similar square footage and bed/bath count, sold within the last 3-6 months, renovated to a similar standard. A local agent with access to closed comps (not just active listings) is the most reliable source; an online estimate alone is a starting point, not an ARV.

Does this account for the interest I pay during the rehab period?

Only indirectly, through the holding-costs field — this tool doesn't separately model hard-money interest during the rehab. If you're using a hard-money or bridge loan, add its total interest cost for the hold period into your total cash invested, or into holding costs, manually.

Want a second set of eyes on a deal? Get in touch and we'll run the numbers with you against real comps. Licensed in Kentucky and Indiana. Every listing goes live on MLS within 3 business days of signing.