Cash on Cash Return after Cash-out Refi

[Richard H.]

Hi,

I'm in the process of a cash-out refi on one of my rental units that I have owned for about 3 years. One of the financial statistics I really pay attention to is my cash-on-cash return each year. I was wondering what approach to take after my refi is complete? I am essentially getting back twice the cash I originally put in so in essence I will have a negative or zero "initial investment" amount and will have "infinite" returns. This won't help at all when trying to evaluate the performance of the property.

Should I use the original investment amount to continue tracking CoC?

Should the cash I receive from the refi be factored into my cash for this year or spread it across the previous 4 years? Or not be treated as cash income at all? I will be paying a higher interest payment each month so my cash flow will suffer, however, I'm also receiving a bunch of cash at once.

Let me know if I'm over analyzing this and there is a simple solution. Thanks in advance.

[Ben Leybovich]

The better metric to use in this case is the IRR as it takes into account all of the in-flows and out-flows. Cash out is an cash in-flow event. Analyze the IRR over the 3 years and you'll have a clear picture.

Hope this helps!