Rental Property Cash Flow Calculator

Built by LFO Capital's institutional CRE underwriting team · computed, not guessed — deterministic math, not an AI estimate · how we calculate →

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Does this rental actually make money?

Gross rent is not profit. The number that decides whether a rental is worth buying is cash flow — what lands in your pocket after the mortgage, taxes, insurance, management, and the money you set aside for the roof and the furnace. This calculator runs the full picture on real expenses, not the optimistic version a listing shows you.

The chain is simple: gross annual rent, minus vacancy, gives your effective income. Subtract operating expenses — property tax, insurance, HOA, property management, maintenance, and a CapEx reserve — and you get net operating income (NOI), the property's income before the loan. Subtract the mortgage (principal and interest) and what's left is your cash flow. Positive means the tenant pays you; negative means you feed the property every month.

The expenses new investors forget

The fastest way to turn a "cash-flowing" rental into a money pit is to underwrite it on rent minus the mortgage and nothing else. Three line items catch people:

Vacancy. No rental is occupied 100% of the time. Budget 5–8% of rent for turnover and days-on-market, even in a hot market.
Maintenance and CapEx. Maintenance is the leaky faucet; CapEx is the $8,000 roof and the $6,000 HVAC. A common rule of thumb is 5% of rent for each — skip them and your "profit" is really just money you haven't spent yet.
Property management. Even if you self-manage today, price in ~8–10% of rent. Your time isn't free, and you may not want to manage it in year five.

How to read the result

The headline is monthly cash flow. Alongside it you get four second-opinion numbers:

Cap rate (NOI ÷ price) — the unlevered yield, useful for comparing properties regardless of your loan.
Cash-on-cash return (annual cash flow ÷ down payment) — how hard the cash you actually invested is working. Break it out in detail here.
DSCR (NOI ÷ mortgage payment) — the same coverage test a lender runs; below 1.0× the rent doesn't cover the loan.
The 1% rule (rent ÷ price) — a quick sanity check on whether the rent is high enough relative to price. Screen it here.

A realistic 2026 example

Take a $300,000 single-family home, 25% down at 6.75% over 30 years, renting for $2,600/mo. After 5% vacancy, $3,000 taxes, $1,500 insurance, 8% management, and 5% each for maintenance and CapEx, NOI is about $19,600 — a 6.5% cap. The mortgage runs roughly $17,500 a year, so cash flow is about +$178/mo (a ~2.9% cash-on-cash return on the $75,000 down). It cash flows — but thinly, which is the honest reality of a leveraged single-family rental at today's rates. That's exactly why you run the real numbers before you write an offer.

This is year one — the deal is a decade

A cash-flow snapshot answers "does it work today." It doesn't model rising rents, the turnover in year three, or the gain when you sell. Cash flow, appreciation, loan paydown, and tax benefits are the four ways a rental builds wealth, and only the first shows up here. Use this to screen and size a deal; underwrite the full hold before you commit real money. New to the process? Start with how to analyze a rental property.

Frequently asked questions

How do I calculate rental property cash flow?

Cash flow = effective rental income − operating expenses − mortgage payment. Start with annual rent, subtract vacancy to get effective income, subtract operating expenses (taxes, insurance, HOA, management, maintenance, and a CapEx reserve) to get NOI, then subtract the annual mortgage (principal + interest). What's left is your pre-tax cash flow.

What expenses should I include when analyzing a rental?

Property taxes, insurance, HOA (if any), property management (budget 8–10% even if you self-manage), maintenance/repairs (~5% of rent), a CapEx reserve for big-ticket items (~5% of rent), vacancy (5–8% of rent), and any utilities or other costs you cover. Leaving out vacancy, maintenance, and CapEx is the most common way investors overstate cash flow.

What is a good monthly cash flow for a rental?

There's no universal number — it depends on your price point and goals. Many investors target at least $100–$200/month per unit after all expenses and reserves, but the more useful test is the return on your cash (cash-on-cash) and whether the cash flow cushion can absorb a turnover or a repair. Thin positive cash flow at a high leverage is fragile; be honest about the expense numbers.

Is this rental a good investment?

Cash flow is the first test, but not the only one. A good rental combines positive (and durable) cash flow, a defensible price relative to rent (see the 1% rule and cap rate), a market with rent and value growth, and reserves so a bad month doesn't sink you. Run the cash flow first; if it clears, look at the full 10-year picture including appreciation, loan paydown, and the eventual sale.

What's the difference between cash flow, cap rate, and cash-on-cash return?

Cash flow is dollars in your pocket after everything. Cap rate (NOI ÷ price) is the unlevered yield, ignoring your loan — good for comparing properties. Cash-on-cash (annual cash flow ÷ cash invested) is the levered year-one yield on the money you actually put in. A property can have a mediocre cap rate but a strong cash-on-cash return because of leverage — or negative cash flow despite a decent cap rate if the loan is expensive.