Rental Property ROI Calculator: Cash Flow, Cap Rate & Cash-on-Cash

Analyze one or hundreds of rental properties at once and get a ranked list showing which deals actually make money. For each property you get monthly cash flow, cap rate, cash-on-cash return, DSCR, break-even rent, the 1% rule, a 5-year profit projection and a clear buy/pass rating.

No scraping, no API keys, no waiting. Just enter the price and rent and get instant, consistent numbers you can export to Excel or Google Sheets.

Who uses this

• Real estate investors comparing many listings before making offers.
• Agents & wholesalers sending clients a professional deal analysis for every property.
• BRRRR / house-hackers testing rehab cost, down payment and rent scenarios.
• Spreadsheet & app builders who need a reliable rental-math API (call it from Make, Zapier or the Apify API).

How to use

1. Paste your properties: each needs a price and monthlyRent.
2. Adjust the assumptions (down payment, rate, vacancy, management...) or keep the defaults.
3. Click Start. Properties come back ranked best-first by cash-on-cash return.

{
  "properties": [
    { "name": "3-bed house, Columbus OH", "price": 185000, "monthlyRent": 1750, "propertyTaxAnnual": 3100 },
    { "name": "Condo, Tampa FL", "price": 265000, "monthlyRent": 2100, "hoaMonthly": 350 },
    { "name": "Duplex, Cleveland OH", "price": 140000, "monthlyRent": 2000, "rehabCost": 15000 }
  ],
  "downPaymentPct": 20,
  "mortgageRatePct": 7
}

Optional per-property fields: url, propertyTaxAnnual, insuranceAnnual, hoaMonthly, rehabCost, closingCosts, otherMonthlyIncome, otherAnnualExpenses, plus any global assumption (e.g. "downPaymentPct": 25 for just that property).

Output example

{
  "rank": 1,
  "name": "Duplex, Cleveland OH",
  "price": 140000,
  "monthlyRent": 2000,
  "rating": "Excellent",
  "recommendation": "Strong buy: high returns and healthy cash flow at this price and rent.",
  "cashFlowMonthly": 582,
  "cashOnCashPct": 14.78,
  "capRatePct": 10.27,
  "dscr": 1.78,
  "breakEvenRent": 1264,
  "passesOnePercentRule": true,
  "financing": { "downPayment": 28000, "loanAmount": 112000, "monthlyMortgage": 745, "totalCashNeeded": 47200 },
  "monthlyBreakdown": { "grossIncome": 2000, "vacancy": 100, "propertyTax": 128, "insurance": 125, "maintenance": 160, "management": 160, "mortgage": 745, "cashFlow": 582 },
  "projection": { "holdYears": 5, "estimatedValueAtSale": 162298, "totalProfit": 38073, "annualizedReturnPct": 12.56 }
}

What the numbers mean

Metric	Meaning	Rule of thumb
Cash flow	Rent left each month after all expenses and the mortgage	Positive, ideally $200+/unit
Cap rate	Yearly net operating income ÷ price (ignores the loan)	6–10% is typical
Cash-on-cash	Yearly cash flow ÷ cash you put in	8%+ is good
DSCR	Net income ÷ mortgage payments	Lenders want 1.2+
Break-even rent	Rent needed for $0 cash flow	Lower than your rent = safety margin
1% rule	Monthly rent ≥ 1% of price	Quick screening test

Default assumptions

20% down · 7% rate · 30 years · 3% closing costs · 5% vacancy · 8% maintenance · 8% management · property tax 1.1% of price · $1,500/yr insurance · 3% appreciation · 2% rent and expense growth · 5-year hold · 6% selling costs. All of them can be changed.

Pricing

Pay per property analyzed. Properties with missing price or rent are skipped and not charged (listed in the skipped-properties dataset, or as SKIPPED_PROPERTIES in the run's key-value store).

Disclaimer

Estimates for comparison and screening only, not financial advice. Verify taxes, insurance, rents and loan terms with local professionals before buying.