Start with cash you must pay
Mortgage payments, HOA dues, insurance and basic utilities may continue with no tenant in place. Multiply those cash outlays by your assumed vacant period and add one-time turnover cash costs.
FREE OWNER TOOL · NO SIGNUP · PRIVATE CALCULATION
How much cash could you need during a rental vacancy?
Enter your scheduled rent, monthly cash outlays, one-time turnover costs and available cash. Compare a short vacancy with a longer one—without confusing rent not collected with cash you actually need to pay.
Your assumptions
Use a real property or leave the fictional example values. No name, address or tenant information is needed.
Your cash cushion
Two different figures, kept separate so you can see both sides of a vacancy.
Cash outlays during chosen vacancy
$4,200Monthly carrying cash + one-time costsScheduled rent not collected
$5,000Lost scheduled gross rent only; not added to outlaysCash cushion remaining
$3,300Cash left after the modeled outlaysMonths your cash can cover
3.8 monthsAfter one-time costs; at your monthly outlay rateCompare vacancy durations
| Vacancy | Cash to carry | Rent not collected | Cash left |
|---|
A negative cash-left amount shows how much more cash the scenario would require.
Do not add the rent-not-collected number to cash outlays. These answer different questions. Actual results depend on occupancy, billing and the costs you enter.
Calculating from example values…
How to use your results
Show uncollected rent separately
Scheduled monthly rent multiplied by vacant months helps show revenue opportunity, but it is not the same as money leaving your account. Keeping these columns separate avoids a misleading total.
Keep a buffer, then compare scenarios
Subtract cash outlays from available cash to see whether a cushion remains. Repeat with shorter and longer vacancies. A negative result flags a modeled cash shortfall, not an investment outcome.
NEED A FULLER OWNER DECISION STUDIO?
Go beyond a vacancy cash estimate.
This free worksheet only estimates a cash cushion and scheduled rent not collected. The Pathfinder Owner Decision Studio ($29 once) helps compare vacancy, unpaid-rent, rent-adjustment and maintenance-reserve scenarios offline. If you also need payment records, source documents and a professional handoff, the Casebook + Pathfinder bundle is $49 once.
This is a basic arithmetic planning worksheet, not a rental income guarantee, tax projection, investment recommendation or legal service. Your values stay in this browser.