BRRRR Calculator

BRRRR stands for Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat. You buy a distressed property below market value, renovate it to increase its After Repair Value (ARV), rent it out to stabilize income, then refinance with a long-term mortgage that pulls your original investment back out as cash. The same capital can then go into the next deal. When executed well, you end up owning a cash-flowing rental with little or no money left in the deal — that's the BRRRR holy grail.

Money left in deal = total cash you put in (purchase down payment + closing + rehab + holding costs) minus the cash you pulled out at refinance. If positive, that's money stuck in the property earning a finite return. If zero or negative, you've recycled all your capital and the property's cash flow is infinite ROI on the remaining $0. This is the single most important BRRRR metric — getting it close to zero is what separates a real BRRRR from a regular rental purchase.

Traditional BRRRR underwriting: keep your total all-in cost (purchase + rehab + closing + holding) below 75% of the ARV. Why? Because most investment-property cash-out refinances cap the loan at 75% LTV. If your all-in is 75% of ARV, the refi loan exactly covers your costs and you walk away with no money in the deal. Above 75% and you leave money in. Below 70% and you might even pull cash out ("cash-out negative"). The 75% rule is a back-of-envelope test — this calculator does the full math.

Our A.I. analyzes the listing description, photos, and your property details (beds, baths, square footage, year built, lot size, ZIP code) to estimate the After Repair Value based on comparable sales in the area, condition signals from listing photos, and renovation-grade price-per-square-foot in the local market. It returns a range — low / mid / high — so you can stress-test the deal at conservative ARV. Always verify the AI's ARV against actual local comps before committing — appraisers are conservative and an over-optimistic ARV is the #1 reason BRRRR deals fail.

Vision A.I. examines the listing photos for condition signals — dated kitchens, old roofs, water damage, basic vs luxury finishes — and the AI builds a line-item rehab budget with typical regional costs: kitchens ($12-25k), bathrooms ($5-12k each), roofs ($10-25k), HVAC ($5-12k), and so on. A contingency buffer (default 15%) is added on top, because rehab almost always overruns. The line items appear in the AI notes so you can sanity-check each one.

When configured, the tool pulls HUD Fair Market Rent (FMR) data for the property's ZIP — the same data lenders and Section 8 use. The AI then adjusts up for renovation premium (post-rehab condition) and any neighborhood factors signaled in the listing. Without HUD FMR, the AI estimates from training knowledge of local rental markets. Verify the post-rehab rent against current Zillow Rent Estimate, RentCast, or local Craigslist comps before signing.

For investment-property cash-out refinance: typical LTV cap is 75% (Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac), rates run 0.5-1.0% above primary residence rates (so investment 30-yr fixed is currently in the 7-8.5% range), and closing costs run 2-3% of the new loan amount. Some lenders offer 80% LTV but with rate adjustments. Hard money or private money for the acquisition phase typically charges 8-12% interest, 1-3 points, and is interest-only for 6-12 months.

Generally: A+ tier deals have money left in deal ≤ $0 (infinite return), monthly cash flow ≥ $300/mo, DSCR ≥ 1.3, cap rate ≥ 7%, and all-in cost ≤ 70% of ARV. B-tier deals leave $10-30k in the deal but still cash flow well. C-tier and below are usually not worth the rehab risk and operational headache — at that point you'd be better off buying a turnkey rental for cash flow without the rehab risk.

Hard money lenders provide short-term (6-18 month), high-rate (8-13%) loans specifically for the buy-and-rehab phase of BRRRR. They typically lend on a combination of purchase price and rehab, up to 90% of total project cost. Pros: less of your own cash needed up front. Cons: high interest + points eat into your numbers, and you MUST execute the refi on schedule or the hard money matures and you scramble. The calculator's Hard Money mode models all of this: down %, rate, points, interest-only payments during the hold.

Many BRRRR investors forget that property taxes, insurance, utilities, and the acquisition loan payments accrue during the 3-6 month rehab + stabilization window — while no rent is coming in. Those costs are real cash out of your pocket before the first refi proceeds arrive, and they belong in the all-in cost calculation. Tools that ignore holding costs make the BRRRR math look better than it is.

Yes — free to use right now, no accounts, no paywalls, no email required. The core BRRRR math is and will stay free; A.I.-powered URL analysis features may eventually be tiered if traffic grows enough to justify it, but that's not the case today. Use it as many times as you want.