AtlasCalcsUtility Calculation Suite
2026-09-21 7 min read

BRRRR Calculator

The BRRRR loop — value-add, cash-out refinance and cash left in the deal for a investment. Live calculator with worked steps and charts.

Calculator

Purchase / Contract Price
$
Rehab Cost
$
After-Repair Value (ARV) Help
$

The value once all repairs are complete.

Cash-Out Refinance LTV(%) Help
%

Share of appraised value the new loan will be.

Refinance Interest Rate(%)
%
Refinance Loan Term(years)
years
Refinance Closing Costs
$
Monthly Rent Help
$

Gross scheduled rent before vacancy.

Property Tax (Annual)
$
Insurance (Annual)
$
Maintenance & Repairs(%) Help
%

Share of effective income budgeted for repairs.

Property Management(%) Help
%

Share of collected rent charged by the manager.

This investment calculator runs on a full rental pro-forma: rent is annualised and reduced by vacancy, every operating expense is itemised to reach NOI, and the loan amortises monthly at the rate entered. Results update live as you type.

Results

Optimal

Cash Left in the Deal

$0

The refinance returned 100% of your capital.

Cash Out at Refinance

$25,500

Total Cost of the Project

$244,500

Refinance Loan Amount

$270,000

New Payment After Refi

$1,751

On a 30-year loan at 6.75%.

LTV Achieved

75.00%

Equity After Refi

$90,000

Value less the new loan — your retained stake.

Cash Flow After Refi

$372

NOI less the new debt service.

Cash-on-Cash After Refi

0.00%

Infinite when no cash is left in the deal.

Capital Recaptured

10.43%

Live results update as you type — currently showing cash left in the deal of $0. Replace the defaults with your own rent roll, tax bill and insurance quote for an exact comparison.

Visualizations

Money In vs Money Out

244,500Total cost
270,000Refi loan
0Cash left in

New Loan vs Retained Equity

Refinance loan75%
Retained equity25%

Loan Balance Over the Term

Capital Recaptured

10.4%
0120

Formula

The BRRRR model prices the full loop: purchase plus rehab builds the basis, the refinance loans against ARV, and the cash-out tells you how much of your original capital comes back.

Cash out = (ARV × Refinance LTV) − Total project cost

Variables

SymbolNameUnitDescription
ARVAfter-repair value$The value the refinance is sized against
LTVRefinance LTV%Share of ARV the new loan covers
Cash leftCash left in deal$Project cost minus the refinance loan

Explanation

BRRRR works when the value you add exceeds the costs of creating it: all-in cost below the refinance loan means infinite return on cash — the property is owned with none of your money left in it.

Step-by-Step Calculation

Follow each step to understand how the result is calculated from your inputs.

Step 1

Total everything the acquisition and rehab cost, including closing.

Total cost = purchase + rehab + closing
Purchase:$210,000
Rehab:$30,000
Closing:$4,500
Intermediate: $210,000 + $30,000 + $4,500
Result: $244,500 invested
Step 2

Size the new loan against the improved value.

Refi loan = ARV × LTV %
ARV:$360,000
LTV:75.00%
Intermediate: $360,000 × 0.75
Result: $270,000 new loan
Step 3

Compare the loan with the cash you put in.

Cash left in deal = total cost − refi loan
Intermediate: $244,500 − $270,000
Result: All capital returned
Step 4

Check that the rent still covers the new, larger payment.

Cash flow = NOI − new debt service
NOI:$21,387
Payment:$1,751.21/month
Intermediate: $21,387 − $21,015
Result: $372 a year
Final Answer
$0

Worked Examples

See how the calculator works with different scenarios.

Scenario

The brrrr calculator run on the values above, showing the full calculation path rather than only the answer.

Inputs

Rent Monthly:2600
Arv:360000
Rehab Cost:30000

Calculation

1. Total everything the acquisition and rehab cost, including closing. → $244,500 invested 2. Size the new loan against the improved value. → $270,000 new loan 3. Compare the loan with the cash you put in. → All capital returned 4. Check that the rent still covers the new, larger payment. → $372 a year

Result

Cash Left in the Deal: $0

Interpretation

Project cost $244,500; a 75.00% refinance on a $360,000 ARV lends $270,000 (75.00% LTV), recapturing 10.43% and leaving $0 invested. Cash flow after refi $372.

Understanding Your Result

Your Result: Cash Left in the Deal: $0

Typical range: A clean BRRRR recaptures 100% of invested capital while leaving the property cash-flowing at the new payment; most real deals leave 10–30% of the cash in.

What This Means

BRRRR works when the value you add exceeds the costs of creating it: all-in cost below the refinance loan means infinite return on cash — the property is owned with none of your money left in it.

Why It Matters

Project cost $244,500; a 75.00% refinance on a $360,000 ARV lends $270,000 (75.00% LTV), recapturing 10.43% and leaving $0 invested. Cash flow after refi $372.

Professional Interpretation

Project cost $244,500; a 75.00% refinance on a $360,000 ARV lends $270,000 (75.00% LTV), recapturing 10.43% and leaving $0 invested. Cash flow after refi $372.

How this is calculated

The BRRRR model prices the full loop: purchase plus rehab builds the basis, the refinance loans against ARV, and the cash-out tells you how much of your original capital comes back.

What drives the result

Each strategy isolates a profit source. Flipping earns the spread between all-in cost and resale. BRRRR earns the value created by rehab, then recovers cash through a refinance. Wholesaling earns a fee for assigning a contract. House hacking converts your own housing cost into investment income.

Recommendations

  • •The refinance appraisal happens after the rehab, so the ARV must be real — three sold comparables, not a wish.
  • •If the cash-out falls short, a higher LTV or a lower purchase is the fix; a bigger loan rate kills the cash flow.

Educational Content

Introduction

Beyond buy-and-hold, real estate investors use repeatable playbooks — flipping, the BRRRR loop, wholesaling, house hacking and short-term rentals. Each prices a specific edge: buying below value, adding value with rehab, or monetising a property more intensively.

Concept Explanation

Each strategy isolates a profit source. Flipping earns the spread between all-in cost and resale. BRRRR earns the value created by rehab, then recovers cash through a refinance. Wholesaling earns a fee for assigning a contract. House hacking converts your own housing cost into investment income.

Applications

▸Pricing a flip offer with the 70% rule before the negotiation starts
▸Planning a BRRRR refinance so the cash-out returns your original down payment
▸Modelling whether an Airbnb premium beats a standard lease after cleaning, furnishing and vacancy
▸Testing whether renting out rooms covers the mortgage on a house hack

Benefits

  • •Forces the profit to be priced at offer time, not discovered at closing
  • •Makes the capital recycling of BRRRR explicit: how much cash actually comes back out
  • •Compares active income (wholesaling, flipping) against passive holds on the same page

Limitations

  • •Rehab budgets overrun more often than not — carry a contingency and a timeline buffer
  • •Strategy returns depend on executing in a short window; a slow sale or refinance erases thin margins
  • •Short-term rental income depends on regulation and seasonality that a single occupancy input cannot fully capture

Best Practices

  • •Get contractor bids before the offer, and add 10–20% contingency to whatever they say
  • •Underwrite the refinance at today’s rates and a conservative appraised value — hope is not a financing plan
  • •For short-term rentals, model both a strong and a weak season before buying furniture

Common Misconceptions

Myth: The 70% rule is a valuation.
Truth: It is a screening heuristic that already embeds profit and buying costs; use it to filter listings, then underwrite properly.
Myth: BRRRR means buying with no money.
Truth: It means recovering your capital after adding value — until the refinance closes, your cash is fully at risk.
Myth: Wholesaling requires no capital or licence.
Truth: It requires earnest money at risk, marketing spend, and in many states a licence or disclosure rules — know yours before assigning contracts.

Practical Tips

  • •Underwrite the refinance at today’s rates and a conservative ARV before buying — the exit is a loan approval, not a promise
  • •Check the DSCR after refinance: the new payment must fit the rent, not just the appraisal

Common Mistakes

Assuming the appraisal hits your ARV.
Appraisers lag the market; model the refinance at 90% of your ARV.
Ignoring seasoning requirements.
Most lenders want a seasoning period and documented costs before lending against the new value.

Assumptions

This calculator makes the following assumptions to provide estimates:

Cash-out refinance: The new loan is a percentage of ARV, amortising at the entered rate and term.

Limitations

Be aware of these limitations when using this calculator:

Limitation: Rehab budgets overrun more often than not — carry a contingency and a timeline buffer
Limitation: Strategy returns depend on executing in a short window; a slow sale or refinance erases thin margins
Limitation: Short-term rental income depends on regulation and seasonality that a single occupancy input cannot fully capture

Frequently Asked Questions

Answers to common questions about this calculator.

How is BRRRR different from a plain flip?
A flip sells; BRRRR refinances and keeps the asset. The profit converts into equity and a tenant-serviced mortgage instead of a cheque — plus the costs and constraints of the refinance.
Who uses the brrrr calculator?
It is used by rental investors screening and pricing deals, by owner-operators budgeting expenses and rents, and by agents, lenders and advisers sanity-checking the numbers before money moves. It sits in the Strategies group of the Real Estate Investing section of Atlascalcs.
How accurate is the brrrr calculator?
Every figure follows from the inputs using standard property underwriting mathematics, so it is accurate to the quality of the values you enter. Lenders, appraisers and tax assessors each apply their own adjustments, so expect small differences against formal documents.
Do I need to sign up or pay to use this calculator?
No. Every Atlascalcs calculator is free, runs entirely in your browser and never asks for an account. Nothing you enter is uploaded or stored.
Can I use these numbers in a formal valuation or loan application?
The calculator is an underwriting aid, not an appraisal or a lender offer. Lenders and appraisers apply their own adjustments, so treat the output as a disciplined estimate to bring to those conversations.
How do I choose realistic inputs?
Pull rent from comparable leases, property tax from the current assessment, insurance from a quote, and management and maintenance from what operators in your market actually pay. Seller pro-formas are marketing documents.

Related Calculators

Explore more calculators related to this topic.

Related Guides

Deepen your understanding with these educational resources.

Glossary

Technical terms used in mortgage calculations explained in plain language.

BRRRR
Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat — a strategy that recovers invested capital through a cash-out refinance after stabilising a property.
After-Repair Value (ARV)
The market value of a property once planned renovations are complete.
Loan-to-Value (LTV)
Loan balance as a percentage of property value. Investment loans typically cap near 75–80%.
Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR)
NOI divided by annual debt service. Lenders typically require 1.20–1.25x on income property.

Authoritative References

Trusted sources and standards referenced by this calculator.

Applicable Standards

Level-payment amortisation, payments assumed in arrearsIncome and expenses annualised; percentages entered as annual ratesStraight-line depreciation per IRC §168 recovery periodsMoney rounded for display only; all calculations run at full precision

Was This Calculator Helpful?

Page Information

Last Updated:

2026-09-21

Version:

2.0.0

License:

Free to use for educational and professional purposes.