Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat. See how much of your cash the refinance pulls back out — and how much stays trapped in the deal.
What you pay to acquire the property (before rehab).
Total renovation cost to bring the property to rent-ready / ARV condition.
Acquisition closing, carrying costs during rehab, and refinance closing — your other out-of-pocket cash.
The appraised value once the rehab is complete. The lever the whole strategy turns on.
Loan-to-value the lender will refinance at. Most cash-out investment refis cap at 70–75%.
Capital Recovered
90.9%
You recover most of your invested cash at refinance, freeing it to roll into the next deal. The 75–100% range is the BRRRR sweet spot.
BRRRR investors aim to recover 75–100%+ of their cash at refinance.
Costs held fixed, ARV varied. Use it to find the ARV you'd need to pull 75–100% of your cash back out. The amber dot is your numbers.
For informational purposes only. Computed from the data you provide; not investment, tax, or financial advice. Consult a qualified advisor before acting on any figure.
Keystone IQ tracks each property's equity from its amortization schedule, the live refinanced mortgage balance, and cash flow — refreshed every page load. Drop in the new loan after you refinance and watch the whole portfolio update, no spreadsheet.
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BRRRR stands for Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat. You buy a property below market (usually distressed), renovate it to raise its value, rent it out, then do a cash-out refinance against the new, higher value to pull your invested cash back out — and use that cash to do it again.
The strategy lives or dies on one number: how much of your capital the refinance returns. If you recover all of it, you've effectively bought a cash-flowing rental for free and can repeat indefinitely with the same pool of money. If you leave a chunk in every time, your capital runs out faster and the "Repeat" part slows down.
Total cash invested is everything you put in: purchase price, rehab budget, and other costs (acquisition closing, holding/carrying costs during the rehab, and refinance closing). The refinance loan is your After Repair Value (ARV) multiplied by the lender's refinance loan-to-value (LTV) — most cash-out investment refinances cap at 70–75%.
The headline figure, capital recovered, is the refinance loan divided by your total cash invested. Cash left in the deal is simply what's left over: total invested minus the refinance loan. When the refinance loan exceeds what you put in, "cash left" goes negative — you've pulled out more than you invested, which is the BRRRR home run.
Recovering 75–100% of your cash is the BRRRR sweet spot — most of your capital comes back out, ready to redeploy. Above 100% means the refinance handed you back everything plus extra; your remaining cash-on-cash return is effectively infinite because you have little to no money left in the deal.
Under ~75%, the deal still works as a rental, but a meaningful slice of your capital stays trapped, which limits how quickly you can repeat. The two levers to improve it are ARV (buy better, rehab smarter, pull accurate comps) and refi LTV (shop lenders) — the chart above shows exactly how much each point of ARV moves your recovery.
Three things routinely break a BRRRR deal that a clean calculation hides. First, the appraisal: your ARV is an estimate until a licensed appraiser signs off, and a low appraisal shrinks the refinance loan directly. Second, seasoning: many lenders require you to own the property for 6–12 months before they'll refinance at the new value, which ties up your cash longer than the model implies. Third, cash flow at the new loan: pulling all your cash out means a bigger mortgage, and a property that cash-flowed at 75% LTV can go negative if you over-leverage.
Treat the output as a go/no-go screen, then pressure-test the ARV with real comps, confirm your lender's seasoning rule, and verify the property still cash-flows at the refinanced payment before you commit.
Most BRRRR investors aim to recover 75–100% of their invested cash at refinance, and the dream is 100%+ — pulling all of it back out so the deal is effectively free and infinitely repeatable. Below ~75% the deal can still be a solid rental, but more of your capital stays tied up, which slows how fast you can do the next one.
ARV (After Repair Value) is what the property will appraise for once your rehab is finished. Estimate it from recent sales of comparable, renovated properties in the same neighborhood — similar size, condition, and layout, sold in the last 3–6 months. Your ARV is the single biggest driver of how much cash you recover, so be conservative: it's an estimate until a licensed appraiser confirms it at refinance.
Most cash-out refinances on investment properties cap at 70–75% loan-to-value, though it varies by lender, loan type, and your credit. Use 75% as a reasonable default and confirm with your specific lender before you count on it — every point of LTV directly changes how much cash you pull back out.
Seasoning is how long a lender requires you to own a property before they'll refinance it at its new appraised value rather than your purchase price. Many lenders require 6–12 months. It matters because your cash stays trapped until you can refinance — so even a perfect BRRRR on paper can tie up your capital far longer than the calculation suggests. Ask your lender their seasoning rule before you buy.
No — this tool focuses on the capital you recover at refinance, which is the core BRRRR question. But pulling all your cash out means a larger mortgage, and a property that cash-flowed at a lower loan amount can go negative when you max out the refinance. After you find an ARV that recovers your cash here, run the new loan payment through a cash-on-cash or DSCR calculator to confirm the property still pays for itself.
It means the refinance loan is larger than everything you invested — you pulled out more cash than you put in. That's the BRRRR home run: you own a cash-flowing rental with none of your own money left in it, plus extra cash in hand for the next deal. Just make sure the property comfortably covers the larger loan payment, because you've maximized leverage.
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