Rental Investment Break-Even with Sale
Compare rental cash and a hypothetical sale with down payment and acquisition costs. Find the first modeled recovery month and the selected-period net result.
What This Calculator Does
Estimate when rental cash plus the proceeds of a hypothetical sale would cover your initial owner cash. Include nonrefundable acquisition and initial repair costs, a theoretical loan if needed, collected rent, operating costs and supplied value/selling assumptions. Recovery includes a sale; the selected-month net result is separate from the first recovery sample. All results are before income taxes.
Who Is This For
For rental-property buyers, owners and real-estate professionals comparing a specific purchase-and-sale scenario. Use actual initial cash and complete operating estimates. A modeled gain is neither rent-only payback nor approval, a market forecast or a guaranteed return.
How It Works
Enter the price, the down payment and the purchase cash; for a cash purchase the down payment equals the price and no rate or term is needed. With a loan, enter the fixed note rate and term. Enter the monthly rent collected, operating costs, the yearly change in value (+ or −), selling costs as a percentage and 1–600 whole months. Tick the confirmation, then compare your upfront cash, rental cash flow, cash from the sale after the loan, the first month you break even and the gain or loss for the period you chose.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does break-even mean here?
Rent minus operating costs and loan payments, added up, plus the estimated cash from a sale after selling costs and the remaining loan, covers your down payment and non-refundable purchase cash. It isn't break-even from rent alone. The first month-end where this is zero or more is the break-even point; exactly even is not a profit. See the separate gain or loss and status for your chosen period. Income taxes, discounting and loan eligibility are not calculated.
How do acquisition costs change the recovery month?
They add to initial cash once. For a $300,000 cash purchase, flat value, a 6% selling allowance and $1,500 monthly cash after operating costs, $18,000 of sale costs are covered at month 12 with no acquisition costs. Add $12,000 of nonrefundable acquisition cash: recovery is month 20, and net gain at month 24 is $6,000. These are illustrative assumptions, not fee quotes. Exclude credited deposits, financed fees, recoverable reserves and costs already counted elsewhere.
Can recovery occur in the first year?
Yes. With a $500,000 cash purchase, flat value, a 6% selling allowance, no acquisition cost and $5,000 collected rent with no operating costs each month, $30,000 of sale friction is covered at month 6. The model checks monthly, so it does not call that exactly one year. At month 6 the net is 0, not a profit; at month 12 it is $30,000. The rent and costs are hypothetical supplied amounts.
Can negative rental cash flow coexist with a positive sale result?
Yes. A hypothetical $300,000 purchase with $60,000 down, a $240,000 loan at 0% for 10 years, $2,000 rent, $1,000 operating costs, flat value and no acquisition/selling costs has a $2,000 loan payment and −$1,000 monthly rental cash. After 6 months, rental cash is −$6,000 and sale cash after the $228,000 remaining debt is $72,000. Subtract $60,000 initial cash to get $6,000 net. Ownership still needs cash funding; 0% is a mathematical control, not a loan offer.
What happens if the holding period exceeds the loan term?
Scheduled principal-and-interest payments stop at payoff; rent and operating costs continue. For a hypothetical $300,000 purchase with $60,000 down, $10,000 acquisition cash, a 0% 10-year loan, $3,000 rent, $1,000 operating costs, flat value and 6% selling costs, 144 months include only 120 loan payments of $2,000. Cumulative loan payments are $240,000, remaining debt is 0 and modeled net gain is $260,000. No extra 24 loan payments are charged.
Does the timeline search past my selected period or start at month zero?
No. It checks the ends of months 1 through your selected whole months, without interpolation or a time-zero claim. If a scenario first covers cash at month 20 but you select 12 months, recovery is not reached in that period. With flat value, no debt, rent, expenses, acquisition or sale costs, month 1 is simply the first sample of exact equality, not profit. Changes in actual assumptions or conditions can invalidate a projected recovery.
Can I model falling value or sale cash below zero?
Yes. The yearly value change accepts −15% to 15%, including 0, and compounds by month. For a $300,000 cash purchase with no purchase costs, a −10% yearly change, 6% selling costs and $1,500 of monthly net operating cash, the value at month 24 is $243,000 and the net result is −$35,580. With a loan, the sale cash after payoff can also be negative: you'd need to add money, and the shortfall isn't forgiven. These are scenarios, not price forecasts.
How complete and precise is the result?
The loan payment and the value over time are calculated precisely, not as a lender's rounded statement. The status and the break-even month use the exact gain, so a $0 shown can hide a small gain or loss. The rounding adjustment makes sale cash + rental cash flow − upfront cash match the net gain shown; it isn't a fee. This fixed budget leaves out income and capital gains taxes, NPV, IRR, inflation, rent growth, lender review and guarantees. The note rate is not the APR.