BRRRR Calculator

How the BRRRR method works

1. Buy below market value, usually with short-term money — hard money or cash — because the property is not yet financeable.
2. Rehab to force appreciation. This is the step that creates the equity everything else depends on.
3. Rent it out. The new income is what qualifies the property for long-term financing.
4. Refinance into a conventional loan against the after-repair value, paying off the acquisition loan and returning your cash.
5. Repeat with the same money. A BRRRR that returns all your capital costs you nothing to hold and funds the next deal.

Where BRRRR deals actually fail

Almost never in the purchase price — that part gets checked obsessively. They fail at the refinance, and this calculator is built around the three ways it happens.

• The appraisal comes in light. Your refinance is a percentage of the appraised value, not of your ARV estimate. Drop the ARV by 10% and watch what happens to cash left in the deal — that is the single most useful thing you can do on this page.
• The rehab runs long. Every extra month is another payment on expensive money with no rent coming in. The holding cost line above counts the rehab period and the seasoning period the lender requires before refinancing.
• The rent does not cover the new payment. A refinance big enough to return all your cash also creates the payment you have to live with afterwards. That is the tension DSCR measures, and why recovering 100% of your capital is not automatically the right choice.

Questions people ask

What is a good capital recovery percentage?

100% or more means the refinance returned every dollar you put in — the property is effectively free to own and your cash is available for the next deal. Below roughly 70%, a large share of your capital stays trapped, and the BRRRR is behaving more like a slow buy-and-hold.

Should I always pull out the maximum?

No. A bigger loan means a bigger payment, and the cash flow and DSCR lines show the cost. The three refinance rows above exist so you can see that trade rather than argue about it in the abstract.

Why does my score drop when I raise the ARV?

Because the refinance is sized as a percentage of the appraised value, so a higher ARV means a bigger loan, not the same loan against more equity. Past the point where you have recovered all your cash, the extra borrowing only adds payment: cash flow falls, DSCR falls, and the score follows. The deal has not got worse — it has become over-levered. Lower the refinance LTV until the rent comfortably covers the payment and the score climbs straight back.

Does this need an account?

No, and it never will. The calculation runs in your browser; nothing you type leaves this page. An account gets you saved deals, comparable sales, stress tests and shareable reports — not access to the maths.

How accurate are the defaults?

They are documented rules of thumb — 2% of price for closing, 1.1% for taxes, 0.6% for insurance, 8% management, 5% vacancy — and the calculator says out loud which ones it used. They are fine for screening. Before an offer, replace them with real quotes in the Assumptions panel.