Cash-on-Cash Return Calculator

Cap rate tells you about the building; cash-on-cash tells you about your deal. Two investors can buy the same property at the same cap rate and earn wildly different returns because of how they finance it. The metric that captures this is cash-on-cash: the annual cash you keep divided by the cash you actually put in.

Cash-on-Cash Return Calculator walks from purchase price and down payment through closing, rehab, financing, rent, vacancy and operating expenses to NOI, monthly cash flow, cap rate and your cash-on-cash percentage. A sensitivity table shows how a rent swing changes your return. Every input updates the result live.

Underneath the inputs is the context that makes the number honest — cash invested versus financed, NOI versus cash flow, cap rate versus cash-on-cash, why vacancy belongs in the model — plus guidance for underwriting. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.

• True cash invested: Down payment plus closing and rehab costs define the denominator, not the loan.
• Full income side: Gross rent, vacancy rate, other income and effective gross income.
• Full expense side: Taxes, insurance, maintenance, management percentage and utilities/HOA.
• NOI and cap rate: Operating income before financing, and return on price.
• Cash-on-cash: Annual pre-tax cash flow divided by invested cash, the core metric.
• Rent sensitivity: Cash-on-cash at -10%, 0% and +10% rent shows leveraged sensitivity.
• Interest-only option: Model loans with no principal payment.
• Live updates: Edit any field and all metrics recompute instantly.
• Export: CSV, JSON or plain text of assumptions and results.

1. Enter the deal. Purchase price, down payment percent, closing costs and rehab.
2. Set financing. Loan rate, term and whether it is interest-only.
3. Enter income. Gross monthly rent, vacancy percent and other monthly income.
4. Enter expenses. Taxes, insurance, maintenance, management percent, utilities and HOA.
5. Read the metrics. NOI, monthly cash flow, cap rate and cash-on-cash appear live, with the sensitivity table.
6. Export. CSV, JSON or plain text for your investment file.

Example 1 — Baseline. $400k price, 25% down, $3k closing, $10k rehab, 7% loan: cash-on-cash around 6-7% on roughly $113k invested at $2,500 rent.

Example 2 — Vacancy bite. Raise vacancy from 5% to 12% and cash flow and cash-on-cash drop noticeably, showing why conservative vacancy matters.

Example 3 — Leverage effect. Drop the down payment to 15% and cash-on-cash can rise (more rent per dollar in) — until debt service outweighs it.

Example 4 — Sensitivity. A 10% rent increase moves cash-on-cash by more than 10% because the gain flows through after fixed debt service.

Example 5 — Interest-only. Toggle interest-only and monthly debt falls, lifting cash flow and the return, at the cost of no equity build-up.

• Your return, not the building's: Cash-on-cash reflects your financing, not just the asset.
• Honest income: Vacancy and full expenses are in, not glossed over.
• See leverage: The sensitivity table shows how rent swings move your return.
• Cap rate context: NOI and cap rate sit beside cash-on-cash for comparison.
• Scenario fast: Interest-only and vacancy toggles test structures in seconds.
• Export the file: CSV, JSON or plain text in one click.
• Free and private: No account, no watermark, nothing uploaded.