BRRRR

Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat — the rental wealth-building flywheel.

Overview

BRRRR (Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat) is a cycle for building a rental portfolio without leaving large chunks of cash trapped in each deal. You buy a distressed property, fix it up, lease it to a tenant, then refinance based on the new (post-renovation) appraised value — often pulling out most of your original investment. The same money is now free to redeploy into the next BRRRR. Done well, you build a rental portfolio with relatively little incremental capital after the first deal.

How it works

1
Buy
Acquire a distressed property below market, typically with short-term financing (hard money, private money, or cash).
2
Rehab
Renovate to bring the property to market condition — same idea as a flip, but the goal is rent-ready, not retail-ready.
3
Rent
Place a tenant. Lenders typically want a few months of seasoning (proven rent history) before refinancing.
4
Refinance
Refi into a long-term loan based on the new appraised value. If everything went well, you pull out 70-75% of post-rehab value, which often returns most or all of your cash.
5
Repeat
Recycled capital goes into the next deal. Your portfolio grows; your cash invested per door stays bounded.

Key metrics

Cash Left in Deal

Total invested minus refi proceeds. The BRRRR ideal is $0 — full infinite return — but $5-15k left in the deal is normal and still excellent.

Cash-on-Cash (post-refi)

Annual cash flow ÷ cash left in deal. Because the denominator is small, this metric goes vertical when BRRRRs work.

DSCR

Same as any rental — ≥1.25x for the long-term refi to qualify.

Cash Multiple

Total dollars returned ÷ cash invested over the hold. Because BRRRR pulls most of your cash back at refi, the denominator stays small and good deals routinely hit 2.0x+ on the cash that's actually left in the deal.

When to use

You can find genuinely distressed properties at significant discount.
Your market has lenders that will refinance at 70-75% LTV on appraised value.
You can carry the property through the rehab + seasoning period (often 6-9 months) before refi.
You have the operational chops to do flip-style renovations AND landlord-style operations.

Watch out for

Appraisal coming in below expectations. Plan for it — model a downside scenario where you only recoup 80% of expected refi proceeds.
Rate environment. If rates rise between buy and refi, your DSCR shrinks and you may need to leave more cash in.
Seasoning requirements. Some lenders want 6+ months of rent history; build that into your timeline.
Doing it in markets without true rental upside — a refinanced money pit is still a money pit.

Back to all models Open BRRRR