Metrics
Monthly Cash Flow
Rent minus operating expenses minus mortgage payment. The cash that lands in your account each month.
How it's calculated
Cash Flow = Rent − Operating Expenses − Mortgage PaymentExample
$2,000 rent − $400 expenses − $1,200 mortgage = $400/mo cash flow = $4,800/yr.
Why Monthly Cash Flow matters
Monthly cash flow is what funds your life. Wealth-building investors weight IRR; income investors weight monthly cash flow.
How to check Monthly Cash Flow before you rely on it
Rebuild it from documents, not the listing. Use the current lease or a signed rent roll for income, the last twelve months of bills for expenses, and a written loan quote for the payment. Then subtract the reserves the listing leaves out: vacancy, maintenance, capital items, and management. If the number only stays positive without those reserves, treat it as break-even.
Related terms
Cash-on-Cash Return
Annual cash flow ÷ total cash invested (down payment + closing + rehab). Tells you how hard your mon…
NOI (Net Operating Income)
Gross annual rent minus all operating expenses, before debt service and income tax.
After-Tax Cash Flow
Pre-tax cash flow adjusted by a taxpayer-specific estimate of income taxes attributable to the renta…
Ready to run the Monthly Cash Flow math on a real deal?
Free 60-second analysis with labeled starting assumptions and no signup. Pro calculates your Offer Ceiling: the highest price that still meets your targets under the assumptions shown.
Where Monthly Cash Flow shows up in TrueCap
The analyzer computes this metric on every run from the assumptions you see and can edit, shows it in the results view beside cash flow after reserves and DSCR, and uses your targets for it in Buy Box fit and in the Offer Ceiling — the highest price that still meets those targets. It appears in the written decision memo and the PDF with the same value and the same inputs.