15-Rental 15-Year Mortgage Stagger Strategy Calculator
Model the long-game rental strategy: buy 15 rental properties on 15-year mortgages, one per year, then live on the tax-free cash from refinancing one paid-off property every year. Adjust the numbers for your market and see how much steady-state cash the portfolio can generate — and what rental cash flow looks like along the way.
Operating expenses cover vacancy, maintenance, property management, taxes, and insurance. A common rule of thumb is 35–50% of rent.
Refi proceeds aren't IRS-defined income — they're loan proceeds, which aren't taxed. Rental cash flow is taxable, but is often sheltered by depreciation for active investors.
- All numbers are in today's dollars; inflation and home appreciation are assumed to cancel out unless you change the advanced setting.
- Refis are assumed to always be available at the rate, LTV, and term you set. In practice, lenders evaluate credit, income, and/or DSCR every time.
- Rental cash flow is shown pre-tax. Depreciation often shelters most rental income for active investors, but rules vary — consult a CPA.
- Refi proceeds are not taxed as income because loan proceeds are a liability, not income. Interest on the new loan is still owed and partially deductible.
- This is an educational tool, not financial, tax, or investment advice.
About the 15-Rental Stagger Strategy
This calculator was inspired by a long-game rental strategy mentioned in David Greene's Pillars of Wealth. The core mechanic is to buy one rental property per year for 15 years, finance each with a 15-year mortgage (lower rate than a 30-year, more principal paid down faster), and let the portfolio's rents service the loans. After 15 years of payments on the first property, it's free and clear — and from then on, one more property finishes its mortgage every year. Each paid-off property can be refinanced with a cash-out loan, and because loan proceeds are not taxable income, that refi cash is yours to spend, tax-free.
This calculator lets you plug in your own numbers — purchase price, rent, down payment, interest rate, refi terms — and see the year-by-year picture. The headline output is the steady-state tax-free income you could draw from refis once the cycle is established. Underneath, the table shows portfolio cash flow, debt service, and refi events year by year.
Results are shown in today's dollars. The model assumes inflation and home appreciation roughly cancel out, so the numbers you see are what the strategy would feel like in current purchasing power. There's an advanced knob for real appreciation above inflation if you want to model a market that genuinely outpaces inflation. The model also assumes you can keep qualifying for refinances — a real-world risk worth thinking about, since lenders evaluate credit, income, and/or DSCR every time.