BRRRR Calculator (Buy-Rehab-Rent-Refinance-Repeat)
BRRRR strategy calculator. Buy-Rehab-Rent-Refinance-Repeat. Total investment, ARV-based refi cash-out, cash recovered, ongoing cash flow, infinite-ROI verdict.
BRRRR Calculator
How BRRRR works — 5 steps
Buy — below what it will be worth
The model assumes an all-cash purchase: purchase price plus closing costs, with no acquisition loan to pay off at the refinance. If you borrowed to buy, the refinance must repay that loan first, and the cash you recover is smaller by its balance.
Rehab — add value an appraiser will see
Enter the rehab budget and the holding costs (tax, insurance, utilities, interest) for the months the work takes. The after-repair value (ARV) is your estimate of what the finished property appraises at; the whole strategy depends on it, so base it on recent comparable sales.
Rent — at a rent you can evidence
Enter the market rent and the share of it lost to vacancy, maintenance and management. The model takes net operating income as rent minus those shares minus property tax and insurance.
Refinance — know which rule applies
The calculator assumes the new loan is your LTV × ARV. Check that against your lender. For a conforming Fannie Mae loan within six months of a cash purchase (delayed financing), the new loan is capped at your documented purchase investment plus closing costs, so the rehab money stays in. Otherwise Fannie Mae requires a borrower on title for six months before a cash-out refinance.
Repeat — with the cash that came back
Cash recovered is the new loan minus its closing costs. Cash left in is what you invested minus that. Cash-on-cash return is the yearly cash flow after the mortgage divided by the cash left in, and is shown as n/a when none is left in, because a return on zero capital is undefined.
BRRRR — recycle one pool of capital across multiple properties
BRRRR stands for buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat, the sequence David Greene set out in Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat (BiggerPockets, 2019). The idea is to buy a property that needs work, add value with the renovation, rent it out, then refinance on the higher value to take most of the cash back out for the next deal. Whether that works comes down to one subtraction: the cash the refinance returns minus the cash you put in.
The subtraction that decides the deal
Invested cash is purchase price + purchase closing costs + rehab + holding costs. Cash recovered is the new loan minus its closing costs, and the new loan here is LTV × after-repair value. With this page's defaults that is USD 204,000 in, a USD 210,000 loan at 75% of a USD 280,000 ARV and USD 205,500 back, so USD 1,500 more comes out than went in. At 7.5% over 30 years the mortgage is USD 1,468 a month. Rent of USD 2,400 less tax, insurance and 15% for vacancy and maintenance leaves USD 20,080 a year of operating income, about USD 205 a month after the mortgage.
The deal is made at the refinance, not the purchase: everything turns on how much the lender will lend against the finished property.
Which refinance rule applies changes the answer
The calculator lends against ARV, which is what a lender does once the rules allow it. Fannie Mae's Selling Guide (B2-1.3-03, December 2025) sets the conforming rules. A cash-out refinance needs at least one borrower on title for six months. Within six months of a cash purchase, its delayed-financing exception caps the new loan at the documented amount of your initial investment in buying the property, plus the new loan's closing costs. On the defaults that is roughly USD 154,000 plus closing costs, not USD 210,000, so about USD 50,000 of rehab and holding money stays in the deal. Portfolio and other non-conforming lenders set their own rules, so ask the lender which rules it is using before you count on the cash.
Where the numbers usually go wrong
An appraisal below your ARV estimate shrinks the loan, and the shortfall comes straight out of the cash you recover. A rehab that runs over budget or over time adds to the cash invested and the holding costs. A higher refinance rate raises the payment and can turn the monthly cash flow negative while every other number looks fine. Run the calculator again with a lower ARV and a higher rate before relying on the base case.
BRRRR turns on the refinance: what the lender will lend against the finished property
BRRRR = buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat, as set out in David Greene's 2019 book for BiggerPockets.
Cash invested = purchase + closing + rehab + holding. Cash recovered = new loan − its closing costs.
On the defaults, USD 204,000 goes in and USD 205,500 comes back, so no cash is left in the deal.
Cash-on-cash is n/a when no cash is left in: a return on zero capital is undefined, not infinite.
Fannie Mae requires a borrower on title for six months before a cash-out refinance (Selling Guide B2-1.3-03).
Within six months of a cash purchase, Fannie's delayed financing caps the new loan at the purchase investment plus closing costs.
Under that cap the defaults recover about USD 154,000, leaving roughly USD 50,000 of rehab and holding money in.
An existing first mortgage being paid off must be at least 12 months old for a Fannie Mae cash-out refinance.
On the defaults, NOI is USD 20,080 a year and the cash flow after the mortgage about USD 205 a month.
A lower appraisal cuts the loan, and the shortfall comes straight out of the cash you recover.
Frequently asked questions
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A short-term loan from a private lender, secured on the property, often used to buy and renovate a property a bank will not lend on in its current state. It is usually quicker to arrange and more expensive than a mortgage, and it has to be repaid at the refinance. This calculator assumes a cash purchase; if you use a hard-money loan, the refinance repays it first, so subtract its balance and its costs from the cash you recover.
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A waiting period before a lender will refinance on the property's new value. For conforming Fannie Mae loans, the Selling Guide (B2-1.3-03) requires at least one borrower on title for six months before a cash-out refinance, and an existing first mortgage being paid off to be at least 12 months old. Inside six months of a cash purchase, its delayed-financing exception allows a refinance, but caps the new loan at the documented purchase investment plus closing costs, which leaves the rehab money in. Other lenders set their own rules.
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From recent sales of comparable properties in the same area, in the condition yours will be in after the work, adjusted for size and features. An appraisal by a licensed appraiser is what the lender will rely on, so treat your own estimate as a hypothesis, and run the calculator with a lower ARV too: every dollar the appraisal comes in under your estimate is a dollar of LTV-share less cash recovered.
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The overrun adds directly to cash invested, and longer works add holding costs, so both reduce what the refinance can return to you. Build a contingency into the rehab figure you enter, then rerun the numbers at the higher cost. If the deal only works at the original budget, it does not have much margin.
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It depends on the deal, not the year, and this page will not name markets it cannot support. The calculator shows the two pressures that matter now: a higher refinance rate raises the mortgage payment and can turn the cash flow negative, and lender rules on seasoning and delayed financing decide how much cash comes back and when. Enter today's rate and check the refinance rules with your lender.
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A rental-property loan that a lender underwrites mainly on whether the property's rent covers the payment, measured as a debt service coverage ratio, rather than on the borrower's personal income. Terms, minimum ratios and pricing vary by lender. You can approximate the ratio from this calculator: annual NOI ÷ (monthly mortgage × 12).
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Yes, and the arithmetic here works the same: enter the total rent across the units. Financing rules can differ by the number of units. For example, Fannie Mae's conforming loans cover one- to four-unit properties, and larger buildings are financed as commercial property, so check which rules apply before relying on the refinance figure.
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Then some of your cash stays in the deal, and the calculator shows how much and the cash-on-cash return on it. That can still be a sound investment: the cash flow and the equity are still yours. It just means the next deal needs new money, so compare the return on the cash left in with what that cash could earn elsewhere.
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No. All inputs stay in your browser. BRRRR computation runs entirely client-side. Open DevTools → Network when you click Analyse and you'll see zero outbound requests.
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David Greene's Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat (BiggerPockets, 2019) sets out the strategy. For the refinance rules, read the lender's own guidelines; for conforming loans in the US, that is Fannie Mae's Selling Guide, section B2-1.3-03 on cash-out refinances, including the delayed-financing exception.
Method & sources
How it computes
All-cash purchase: invested = purchase + closing + rehab + holding; new loan = LTV x ARV; recovered = loan - refi closing; cash flow = NOI - 12 x level payment; NOI = rent - tax - insurance - vacancy/maintenance/management shares; cash-on-cash = cash flow / cash left in (n/a when none). RecaBusiness.brrrr, tested.
What this tool implements
- Cash-on-cash printed 'INFINITE' when no cash was left in; a return on zero capital is undefined and is now n/a.
- Fannie Mae Selling Guide B2-1.3-03 (10 Dec 2025): a borrower on title six months before a cash-out refinance; an existing first mortgage at least 12 months old; within six months of a cash purchase, delayed financing caps the new loan at the documented purchase investment plus closing costs. The page assumed ARV-based cash-out at '6-12 months' seasoning; it now shows the defaults would recover ~$154,000, leaving ~$50,000 in, under delayed financing.
- Greene, Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat (BiggerPockets, 2019). Removed as unsourced: hard-money rates and points, BPO/appraisal costs, 70%-rule thresholds, a 75% LTV 'typical' figure (Fannie's matrix could not be read), market recommendations, ASEAN lending claims and deal-volume claims.
Sources
- Fannie Mae. Selling Guide B2-1.3-03, Cash-Out Refinance Transactions (dated 10 December 2025). https://selling-guide.fanniemae.com/sel/b2-1.3-03/cash-out-refina…
- Greene D. Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat. BiggerPockets; 2019. ISBN 9781947200081. https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20966089W
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