See what a Central Iowa deal actually does to your money: your real monthly cost to live in it, what it cash flows if you rent the rest, and what you keep when you sell. This is full underwriting, not a toy - cash flow, cap rate, cash-on-cash, DSCR, 10-year IRR, true equity and a complete house-hack analysis.
Free to run, and nothing is saved unless you ask for it. Create a free account only when you want to store a deal, download a branded PDF or share it.
Fill every field. Every input here feeds the calculation, so enter a real number or your best estimate for each one - and when you’re unsure, overestimate. Guessing home insurance runs $1,500/yr? Put in $1,750 or $2,000. Rates sitting between 6% and 6.25%? Use 6.5%. If the numbers work on conservative inputs, the real numbers at purchase will only look better.
Enter market rent for every unit - including the one you’d live in. That unit still has an alternative cost: if you don’t own, you rent. Leave it blank and the house-hack savings can’t be calculated. Unsure? Estimate low on rent you’ll collect and high on rent you’d otherwise pay.
| Row | Qty | Current $ | Market $ |
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Fill in Purchase price, Property value, Interest rate, Property tax, Insurance, Rent for at least one unit and this turns into 2 to 8 insights written for this deal: what is working, what to watch and how to reduce the risk, the lever that moves your numbers most, and whether your assumptions read conservative, realistic or optimistic.
Swipe the table sideways to see all 18 columns - the Year column stays put.
The refinance is based on ARV (after-repair value), not what you paid. Be conservative with ARV and generous with rehab - that's where BRRRR deals go wrong.
Holding costs are the silent killer: taxes, insurance, utilities and loan interest every month you own it. Estimate the timeline long, not short.
This is an estimate of what you can borrow, not what you should spend. Lenders vary and this is not a pre-approval - talk to a lender for a real number.
Most mortgage calculators answer one question: what is the payment? A house hack has a different question underneath it - what does housing actually cost you once a tenant is paying part of it, and how much wealth does that arrangement build while you live there.
This calculator runs both. It takes your purchase price, loan terms, taxes, insurance, and the rent from the units or rooms you are not occupying, then reports your out-of-pocket cost to live there, your cash flow once you move out, and the equity you built along the way - broken into loan paydown, appreciation, and the rent you avoided paying a landlord.
Payment minus the rent your units produce. This is the number that tells you whether you are living cheaper than renting - and by how much per month.
Every month you occupy the property, you are not writing a rent check. That savings is real return and most calculators ignore it entirely.
Loan paydown plus appreciation minus selling costs, with an annualized return percentage so you can compare it to an index fund honestly.
A full hold-period table - cash flow, equity, and cumulative return each year, so you can see when the property flips from cost to income.
Purchase price, down payment, rate, term, plus monthly taxes, insurance, and HOA. Mortgage insurance is handled for you when the down payment calls for it.
Tell it how many units or rooms exist and mark the one you will occupy. Fill in current rent if the property is already leased, or market rent if it is not - either one works.
Your cost to live, your savings versus renting, and the derivation line under each number so you can trace it back to the field that produced it.
The True Equity waterfall shows what actually lands in your pocket at sale, with an annualized return next to the dollars.
A house hack is buying a property you live in while renting out part of it - the other side of a duplex, a finished basement unit, or spare bedrooms. Because you occupy it, you qualify for owner-occupied financing instead of investment-property financing - and owner-occupied programs are built around a far smaller cash outlay. That gap is the single biggest advantage of the strategy. FHA, conventional, VA, USDA, and the Iowa Finance Authority all have owner-occupied paths; your lender will tell you which one fits.
Less than most people assume, because you are buying it as your primary residence rather than as an investment. FHA allows a one-to-four unit property you occupy, conventional has owner-occupied options, VA and USDA can go lower still in the right circumstances, and Iowa Finance Authority programs (FirstHome and Homes for Iowans) can stack down payment assistance on top. I am not a lender or a licensed loan officer, so the figure that applies to you has to come from your lender - but run the calculator above at a few different down payment amounts and you will see how much it moves the rest of the math.
Owner-occupancy requirements on FHA and most conventional loans run one year. After that you can move out, rent the unit you were living in, and repeat the process on the next property.
Often, yes. Lenders will typically count a portion of documented or appraiser-estimated rent from the other units toward your qualifying income, which can raise the price you are approved for. The exact percentage varies by loan product - ask your lender to run it both ways.
Sometimes. The right comparison is not zero - it is what you would otherwise pay in rent. If your out-of-pocket housing cost lands below what you would have paid to rent a comparable place, you are ahead before you even count loan paydown and appreciation. The calculator shows all three so you can judge it honestly.
The unit you occupied becomes rentable, so the property usually flips to positive cash flow. The Year-by-Year tab shows exactly which year that happens based on your inputs.