What if you could grow your genuine estate portfolio by taking the money (frequently, somebody else's cash) you utilized to acquire one home and recycling it into another residential or commercial property, end over end as long as you like?
That's the premise of the BRRRR property investing method.
It allows financiers to acquire more than one residential or commercial property with the same funds (whereas conventional investing requires fresh cash at every closing, and hence takes longer to get residential or commercial properties).
So how does the BRRRR method work? What are its benefits and drawbacks? How do you do it? And what things should you think about before BRRRR-ing a residential or commercial property?
That's what we'll cover in this guide.
BRRRR represents buy, rehabilitation, rent, re-finance, and repeat. The BRRRR approach is gaining appeal due to the fact that it permits investors to use the same funds to purchase several residential or commercial properties and thus grow their portfolio quicker than conventional realty investment approaches.
To start, the investor finds a great offer and pays a max of 75% of its ARV in money for the residential or commercial property. Most loan providers will only loan 75% of the ARV of the residential or commercial property, so this is crucial for the refinancing stage.
( You can either utilize cash, tough money, or private cash to buy the residential or commercial property)
Then the investor rehabs the residential or commercial property and rents it out to renters to produce consistent cash-flow.
Finally, the financier does what's called a cash-out re-finance on the residential or commercial property. This is when a banks provides a loan on a residential or commercial property that the financier currently owns and returns the cash that they utilized to acquire the residential or commercial property in the very first location.
Since the residential or commercial property is cash-flowing, the investor has the ability to spend for this new mortgage, take the money from the cash-out refinance, and reinvest it into new systems.
Theoretically, the BRRRR process can continue for as long as the investor continues to buy clever and keep residential or commercial properties inhabited.
Here's a video from Ryan Dossey explaining the BRRRR process for novices.
An Example of the BRRRR Method
To understand how the BRRRR process works, it may be handy to walk through a fast example.
Imagine that you discover a residential or commercial property with an ARV of $200,000.
You anticipate that repair expenses will have to do with $30,000 and holding costs (taxes, insurance coverage, marketing while the residential or commercial property is uninhabited) will have to do with $5,000.
Following the 75% rule, you do the following math ...
($ 200,000 x. 75) - $35,000 = $115,000
You offer the sellers $115,000 (the max offer) and they accept. You then discover a hard cash lending institution to loan you $150,000 ($ 35,000 + $115,000) and provide them a down payment (your own money) of $30,000.
Next, you do a cash-out refinance and the new lender accepts loan you $150,000 (75% of the residential or commercial property's worth). You pay off the difficult money lender and get your deposit of $30,000 back, which enables you to repeat the process on a brand-new residential or commercial property.
Note: This is simply one example. It's possible, for example, that you could obtain the residential or commercial property for less than 75% of ARV and end up taking home money from the cash-out refinance. It's likewise possible that you might pay for all acquiring and rehabilitation costs out of your own pocket and after that recover that money at the cash-out re-finance (rather than using private money or hard money).
Learn How REISift Can Help You Do More Deals
The BRRRR Method, Explained Step By Step
Now we're going to walk you through the BRRRR method one action at a time. We'll describe how you can find excellent deals, secure funds, compute rehabilitation expenses, bring in quality tenants, do a cash-out refinance, and repeat the entire procedure.
The primary step is to find bargains and purchase them either with money, personal money, or difficult cash.
Here are a few guides we have actually developed to assist you with discovering top quality deals ...
How to Find Property Deals Using Your Existing Data
The Ultimate Real Estate Investor Marketing Plan: Better Data, More Deals
We also recommend going through our 2 week Auto Lead Gen Challenge - it only costs $99 and you'll find out how to produce a system that generates leads utilizing REISift.
Ultimately, you don't wish to buy for more than 75% of the residential or commercial property's ARV. And ideally, you desire to acquire for less than that (this will result in extra cash after the cash-out re-finance).
If you wish to find private cash to purchase the residential or commercial property, then attempt ...
- Connecting to family and friends members
- Making the lender an equity partner to sweeten the deal
- Networking with other company owner and financiers on social networks
If you want to discover difficult cash to buy the residential or commercial property, then attempt ...
- Searching for tough money lending institutions in Google
- Asking a real estate agent who works with investors
- Requesting for referrals to tough money loan providers from regional title business
Finally, here's a fast breakdown of how REISift can assist you find and secure more offers from your existing information ...
The next action is to rehab the residential or commercial property.
Your goal is to get the residential or commercial property to its ARV by spending as little cash as possible. You absolutely do not wish to overspend on repairing the home, spending for additional devices and updates that the home does not require in order to be marketable.
That does not indicate you should cut corners, though. Make sure you hire credible contractors and repair everything that requires to be repaired.
In the video below, Tyler (our founder) will reveal you how he estimates repair costs ...
When purchasing the residential or commercial property, it's best to estimate your repair work costs a bit greater than you anticipate - there are usually unexpected repair work that show up during the rehab stage.
Once the residential or commercial property is totally rehabbed, it's time to find occupants and get it cash-flowing.
Obviously, you wish to do this as quickly as possible so you can re-finance the home and move onto acquiring other residential or commercial properties ... however don't rush it.
Remember: the top priority is to discover excellent renters.
We advise utilizing the 5 following criteria when thinking about renters for your residential or commercial properties ...
1. Stable Employment
2. No Past Evictions
3. Good References
4. Sufficient Income
5. Good Financial History
It's much better to turn down a tenant due to the fact that they do not fit the above criteria and lose a few months of cash-flow than it is to let a bad renter in the home who's going to cause you problems down the roadway.
Here's a video from Dude Real Estate that provides some fantastic suggestions for discovering high-quality occupants.
Now it's time to do a cash-out re-finance on the residential or commercial property. This will enable you to settle your difficult money lender (if you utilized one) and recoup your own expenses so that you can reinvest it into an extra residential or commercial property.
This is where the rubber fulfills the roadway - if you found a good deal, rehabbed it adequately, and filled it with premium occupants, then the cash-out re-finance must go smoothly.
Here are the 10 finest cash-out refinance lenders of 2021 according to Nerdwallet.
You might also discover a regional bank that wants to do a cash-out re-finance. But keep in mind that they'll likely be a spices duration of a minimum of 12 months before the lender wants to offer you the loan - ideally, by the time you're finished with repairs and have actually found renters, this seasoning period will be finished.
Now you repeat the procedure!
If you utilized a private money lending institution, they may be happy to do another handle you. Or you could utilize another hard money lender. Or you could reinvest your cash into a brand-new residential or commercial property.
For as long as whatever goes smoothly with the BRRRR method, you'll have the ability to keep purchasing residential or commercial properties without really utilizing your own money.
Here are some benefits and drawbacks of the BRRRR property investing approach.
High Returns - BRRRR requires very little (or no) out-of-pocket money, so your returns need to be sky-high compared to conventional property investments.
Scalable - Because BRRRR allows you to reinvest the very same funds into brand-new units after each cash-out re-finance, the design is scalable and you can grow your portfolio very rapidly.
Growing Equity - With every residential or commercial property you buy, your net worth and equity grow. This continues to grow with gratitude and earnings from cash-flowing residential or commercial properties.
High-Interest Loans - If you're using a hard-money loan provider to BRRRR residential or commercial properties, then you'll likely be paying a high interest rate. The goal is to rehab, rent, and refinance as rapidly as possible, but you'll normally be paying the tough cash lenders for a minimum of a year or so.
Seasoning Period - Most banks require a "flavoring period" before they do a cash-out refinance on a home, which indicates that the residential or commercial property's cash-flow is steady. This is usually a minimum of 12 months and sometimes closer to two years.
Rehabbing - Rehabbing a residential or commercial property has its risks. You'll need to deal with specialists, mold, asbestos, structural inadequacies, and other unanticipated problems. Rehabbing isn't for the light of heart.
Appraisal Risk - Before you buy the residential or commercial property, you'll wish to ensure that your ARV calculations are air-tight. There's constantly a risk of the appraisal not coming through like you had actually hoped when refinancing ... that's why getting a bargain is so darn crucial.
When to BRRRR and When Not to BRRRR
When you're wondering whether you should BRRRR a particular residential or commercial property or not, there are two questions that we 'd recommend asking yourself ...
1. Did you get an outstanding deal?
2. Are you comfortable with rehabbing the residential or commercial property?
The very first question is essential because a successful BRRRR offer hinges on having discovered a terrific deal ... otherwise you might get in difficulty when you try to re-finance.
And the 2nd concern is necessary due to the fact that rehabbing a residential or commercial property is no small job. If you're not up to rehab the home, then you may think about wholesaling instead - here's our guide to wholesaling.
Want to find out more about the BRRRR technique?
Here are some of our preferred books on the topics ...

Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat: The BRRRR Rental Residential Or Commercial Property Investment Strategy Made Simple by David M. Greene
The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs: The Investor's Guide to Defining Your Renovation Plan, Building Your Budget, and Knowing Exactly Just How Much It All Costs by J Scott
How to Purchase Real Estate: The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Beginning by Brandon Turner
Final Thoughts on the BRRRR Method
The BRRRR method is an excellent way to invest in property. It enables you to do so without utilizing your own money and, more significantly, it enables you to recoup your capital so that you can reinvest it into brand-new units.