Rental Investment Calculators — FAQ

RentalInvestCalc is a set of free, private calculators that analyze rental property investments entirely in your browser. There is no signup and no data upload. The 12 tools cover income and cash flow, returns (cap rate, cash-on-cash), strategy (BRRRR, 1031 exchanges), tax (IRS depreciation), and comparison (side-by-side, max offer, loan comparison, rent vs sell). Start from the home page and pick the calculator that matches your question.

No account, no email, no paywall. Open any calculator and use it immediately. The only optional feature is saving scenarios on your own device via the saved deals page, which also stays local.

Yes — every calculator is free and unlimited. We do not meter runs, show paywalls, or ask for a credit card. The site is supported by ads, not by charging you for math. You can run the same scenario ten times a day and compare as many deals as you like.

Yes. The calculators are plain web pages built with responsive CSS, so they work the same on a phone, tablet, or desktop. Nothing is installed and there is no app to download — just open the page in any modern browser. Saved scenarios sync across devices only if those devices share the same browser profile (localStorage is per-device, not cloud).

If you are evaluating a single property, start with the cash flow calculator — it covers rent, tax, vacancies, capex, cap rate, and cash-on-cash in one place. If you are comparing two deals, use the side-by-side comparison. If you are deciding whether to hold or sell, use rent vs sell.

Cap rate = Net Operating Income (NOI) ÷ property price. NOI is all rental income minus operating expenses (property tax, insurance, maintenance, management, vacancy) but before debt service. Because property tax is an operating expense, it lowers NOI and therefore the cap rate. Use the cash flow calculator, which reports cap rate automatically once you enter rent and expenses.

Cash-on-cash return = annual pre-tax cash flow ÷ cash invested (down payment + closing + rehab). There is no single 'good' number — it depends on your market, risk tolerance, and whether you value appreciation. Many investors target 8–12%, but a lower return can still make sense with strong appreciation or tax shelters. The cash flow calculator shows your cash-on-cash after property tax and financing.

Cap rate measures the property's unlevered return — it ignores your mortgage and answers 'what yield does the asset itself produce?' Cash-on-cash measures your return on the actual cash you put in, including financing. A property can have a 6% cap rate but a 15% cash-on-cash if you leverage aggressively, or a 6% cap rate and 2% cash-on-cash if you overpay for the down payment. Use both: cap rate to compare markets, cash-on-cash to judge your personal deal.

NOI = effective gross income − operating expenses. Effective gross income is scheduled rent minus vacancy and credit losses. Operating expenses include property tax, insurance, HOA (if not paid by tenant), repairs, maintenance, property management, utilities you cover, and landscaping — but not mortgage interest, depreciation, or capital improvements. The cash flow calculator builds NOI line by line so you can see exactly which dollars count.

Any cost to keep the property rented and running: property tax, insurance, management fees, routine repairs, maintenance, landscaping, pest control, utilities the landlord pays, HOA dues, and vacancy reserves. Mortgage principal and interest, depreciation, and capital expenditures (a new roof) are not operating expenses — they sit below NOI and affect cash flow or taxes separately.

There is no universal threshold, but many long-term landlords aim for at least $200–$400 per unit per month after all costs, enough to absorb a repair or a vacant month. In high-cost markets even $100–$150 positive can be acceptable if appreciation is strong. The cash flow calculator shows your exact monthly number after property tax, insurance, and debt service.

The 1% rule screens deals by checking rent ≥ 1% of purchase price per month. The 50% rule estimates that ~50% of income goes to operating expenses (excluding debt). Both are quick filters, not final answers. The quick screen calculator applies them and then layers in the real property-tax line so you do not over-screen.

In many hot markets the strict 1% rule is hard to hit — prices rose faster than rents in 2022–2024, pushing many metros to 0.5–0.8%. Investors adapt by using the 1% rule as a pass/fail screen only in cheaper markets, or by pairing it with cap rate and cash-on-cash on the cash flow calculator. Treat 1% as a rough filter, not gospel.

The 2% rule is a stricter screen: monthly rent should be ≥ 2% of purchase price. A $200,000 home would need $4,000/month rent — rare in most owner-occupied-style neighborhoods but common in some distressed or college-town markets. The 2% rule usually signals a cash-flow-heavy deal but often comes with older housing stock and higher management effort. Use the quick screen calculator to test both thresholds at once.

BRRRR (Buy–Renovate–Rent–Refinance–Repeat) layers a refinance on top of a value-add purchase. The BRRRR calculator models the after-repair value, the stabilized rent, the refinance loan (including DSCR and debt service that must cover PITI plus property tax), and the cash you pull back out. It tells you whether the cycle actually returns capital to repeat.

A 1031 exchange lets you defer capital-gains tax by rolling proceeds from a sold investment property into a like-kind replacement property within IRS timing rules. It defers — not eliminates — gain, and it does not pause property tax; you simply inherit the new state's rate. The 1031 calculator models the deferred gain and the boot that would be taxed.

Side-by-side compares two finished deals on the same metrics — cap rate, cash flow, cash-on-cash — so you can pick the better one. Max offer works backward from a target return to tell you the most you should pay for one property. Use side-by-side when choosing between listings; use max offer when negotiating a single price.

Use cash flow to see how a rental performs if you keep it. Use rent vs sell when you are deciding whether to keep or liquidate: it compares staying a landlord (future rent, appreciation, debt paydown) against selling now (net proceeds, invested at a market return, minus capital-gains tax). It answers the 'should I hold?' question that cash flow alone cannot.

Residential rental real estate is depreciated straight-line over 27.5 years — a non-cash deduction that offsets taxable rental income. At sale, prior depreciation is 'recaptured' (taxed up to 25% under §1250), separate from capital-gains rates, though a 1031 can defer it. The depreciation calculator shows annual and cumulative deductions. Confirm specifics with a CPA and review IRS Publication 527.

When you sell, the IRS 'recaptures' the depreciation you deducted over the years and taxes it separately from long-term capital gains — at a maximum 25% rate on the accumulated depreciation (the rest of your gain is taxed at capital-gains rates). A 1031 exchange can defer both, but if you eventually cash out without a 1031, recapture applies. The depreciation calculator tracks cumulative deductions so the number is never a surprise.

Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, 100% bonus depreciation applied to qualifying assets placed in service through 2022, then phased down (80% in 2023, 60% in 2024, and lower in later years) unless Congress extends it. Bonus depreciation typically applies to personal property inside a rental (appliances, furniture for short-term rentals) rather than the building itself, which still uses 27.5-year straight-line. Short-term landlords often benefit most. Rules change yearly — verify current percentages on IRS.gov and with a CPA.

Property tax is an operating expense, so every dollar of tax lowers NOI, cap rate, and monthly cash flow. Rates vary wildly because they are set locally: a 0.3% effective rate (Hawaii, Alabama) versus over 2% (New Jersey, Illinois) can swing a deal from cash-flow-positive to negative on the same rent. For regional rent benchmarks that feed these comparisons, see HUD Fair Market Rent data and the Census ACS. See our 50-state + DC property-tax guides for the real rate and a worked example in your market.

Yes. Every calculation runs locally in your browser; nothing is uploaded or stored on a server. Saved scenarios live in your device's localStorage. See the privacy policy for details. This is by design — your property financials never leave your machine.

Saved scenarios are written to your browser's localStorage on the same device and browser profile you used to create them. They are not sent anywhere. To delete one, open the saved deals page and remove it there; to wipe everything, clear this site's data in your browser settings. Because storage is local, saved deals do not follow you to a different device.

No. We have no accounts and collect no personal data to share. Analytics and ad partners may receive anonymous, aggregate usage signals under their own privacy policies, but your property numbers, addresses, and inputs are never transmitted, so there is nothing of yours to sell. Read the privacy policy for the full picture.