Is the BRRRR method worth it?

It is worth it when you can buy at 65 to 70% of after-repair value, manage a renovation, and the finished property cash flows on a 75% loan. It produces the same rental as a turnkey purchase with far less cash left in it.

Compare a $260,000 rental two ways. Bought turnkey with 25% down, you have about $72,800 in it. Built through a BRRRR at $150,000 plus $40,000 of rehab and refinanced at 75%, you have about $16,700 in it. Same property, same loan, same cash flow, and $56,000 more cash for the next deal.

The cost is six to twelve months of work, hard money interest and appraisal risk. And at current rates a 75% loan often leaves thin cash flow. A BRRRR that returns your cash and loses $200 a month is a property that costs $2,400 a year to own for free.