Rental Property Cash Flow Calculator

A rental property can look profitable on a spreadsheet and still lose money every month once vacancy, management fees, maintenance, and financing costs are subtracted from rent. This calculator runs the full math — not just rent minus mortgage — to show your actual monthly cash flow, along with the two ratios real estate investors use to compare deals: cap rate (return based on the property alone) and cash-on-cash return (return based on the cash you actually put in).

Purchase Price ($) Down Payment (%) Mortgage Rate (%) / Term (years)

Monthly Rent ($) Vacancy Rate (%) Property Management Fee (% of rent) Maintenance Reserve (% of rent) Property Tax (%/year of price) Insurance ($/year) HOA ($/month) Closing Costs (% of price)

Cap Rate vs. Cash-on-Cash Return

Cap rate measures the property’s return as if you bought it in cash — net operating income divided by purchase price — which makes it useful for comparing properties on their own merits, independent of financing. Cash-on-cash return measures your actual return on the money you put down, factoring in your mortgage payment, which is why the two numbers can diverge significantly: leverage (financing most of the purchase) tends to boost cash-on-cash return when a property cash-flows well, but can also amplify losses when it doesn’t.

Why Vacancy and Management Fees Change the Picture

A property that looks cash-flow-positive using 100% rent collection can turn negative once a realistic vacancy rate (typically 5–8% even for well-managed properties) and property management fees (commonly 8–10% of collected rent) are factored in. Self-managing avoids the management fee but costs your time instead — this calculator lets you set that field to 0% to model self-management, or a realistic percentage to model hiring a property manager.

A Few Practical Notes

This calculator doesn’t scale property tax, insurance, or maintenance costs over time or account for rent growth, and it doesn’t include capital expenditures (roof, HVAC replacement) separately from routine maintenance — both would reduce long-run cash flow further. It also uses no country-specific tax or lending rules, so treat property tax rate, insurance, and closing costs as inputs you supply based on your local market. Use this as a screening tool to compare deals quickly, not a substitute for full due diligence.

Freedom Wealth Lab Apps provides general educational tools, not personalized financial advice. This calculator uses standard real-estate investment math with no country-specific tax or regulatory data — adjust the tax, insurance, and fee fields to match your market. Read our full Disclaimer and Affiliate Disclosure.