BRRRR — Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat — lives or dies at the refinance: does the new loan hand your cash back, or does the deal keep it? This calculator runs the whole sequence in one place and answers the only question that matters: how much cash is still in the deal when the refi closes?
Step 1. Enter Purchase Price and Rehab Cost — the buy and the rehab.
Step 2. Enter the After-Repair Value the renovated property will appraise at — proven by comps, because the lender's appraiser will use them too.
Step 3. Set the Refinance LTV your lender will actually write (75% is a common rental-refi ceiling; use your lender's real number).
Step 4. Enter the Monthly Rent After Rehab.
Step 5. Open Advanced for buy closing, holding, refi costs, the refi loan's rate and term, and the rental's operating expenses.
Step 6. Judge the deal on the pair: Cash Left In (lower is better, negative means cash came back out) and Monthly Cash Flow After Refi (must be positive to repeat safely).
All-In Cost = Purchase + Rehab + Buy Closing + Holding Costs.
Refinance Loan = ARV × LTV%. Cash Left In = All-In Cost + Refinance Costs − Refinance Loan. A negative result means the loan returned more than you put in — cash back at closing.
Post-Refi Cash Flow uses the rental math from our Cash Flow Calculator: Effective Rent = Rent × (1 − Vacancy%); Operating Expenses = Taxes÷12 + Insurance÷12 + Rent × (Maintenance% + Management%) + Other; Cash Flow = Effective Rent − Operating Expenses − Mortgage on the refinance loan (standard amortization).
The trap this exposes: forcing ARV or LTV up makes Cash Left In prettier while making the mortgage — and the monthly bleed — bigger. The pair is the grade.
The full sequence, with the failure points named.
The rental half of BRRRR, underwritten properly.
Where purchase and rehab money comes from before the refi.
Commonly up to 75% of appraised value for a rental refinance, but it is the lender's call, property by property. Use the number your lender quotes you — the calculator is only as honest as that input.
Near zero with positive cash flow is the clean repeat. Zero with negative cash flow is a machine for buying monthly bills. Grade the pair.
The refinance loan shrinks with it, cash left in jumps, and the deal changes character. That is why the ARV input must come from sold comps, not hope — rerun the tool at a lower ARV before you buy to see your exposure.
The math is identical; the rent input can be checked against the payment standard with our Rent Estimator. The refinance does not care where rent comes from — it cares that it is real.