Landlord Expense Calculator

What does this tool add up?

This tool uses total annual expenses = annual mortgage payments + annual property tax + annual insurance + maintenance reserve + management fee. The maintenance reserve is the maintenance percentage × property value, and the management fee is the management percentage × annual rent (monthly rent × 12).

Is the mortgage counted as an expense?

Yes. The full annual payment you enter, principal and interest together, goes into the total, so the result is a cash-out figure rather than an operating-expense figure. To get operating expenses only, set the mortgage field to 0; with the form defaults that changes the total from $29,640 to $11,640.

Is the management fee reduced for vacancy?

No. There is no vacancy input, and the fee is charged on twelve full months of rent. If you collect less than that, the fee shown will be somewhat higher than what a manager billing on collected rent would charge.

How are the three ratio outputs defined?

Expense as % of property value is total expenses ÷ value. Expense as % of gross rent is total expenses ÷ annual rent. The last line, now labelled margin after all expenses including mortgage, is (annual rent − total expenses) ÷ annual rent, so a negative figure means costs exceed rent.

Why was the last output relabelled from “net operating margin”?

Because the total includes the mortgage, the margin is after financing, whereas net operating income is calculated before it. The figure itself is unchanged; the label now says what it contains.

Which landlord costs are left out?

Utilities paid by the owner, vacancy loss, advertising and tenant-screening fees, legal costs, HOA or service charges, major capital replacements beyond the maintenance reserve, depreciation and income tax are all absent. Add any that apply to the property tax, insurance or maintenance inputs so they appear in the total.

What does the maintenance percentage represent?

It is a reserve set aside each year as a share of the property value you enter, not a forecast of actual repairs. This tool does not supply a recommended percentage; the 1% default is a placeholder you should replace with your own estimate.

What if I clear fields or enter zero?

A cleared box becomes 0 and is kept as 0, never replaced by the form default. That means a paid-off property (mortgage 0) or a self-managed one (fee 0) is calculated as such. Negative values are treated as zero, and if rent is zero the two rent-based ratios show 0.