Sell or hold

Sell or Keep Calculator

Seller net sheet and hold return, free and without a sign-up

What you actually walk away with after commission, payoff, depreciation recapture and capital gains, against what the property earns if you keep it.

If you sell

The seller net sheet

If you keep it

Cash flow, loan paydown and appreciation over your holding period

Sell today

Net in your pocket
$155,290
  • Commission-$23,100
  • Other closing costs-$4,500
  • Mortgage payoff-$210,000
  • Depreciation recapture-$15,500
  • Capital gains tax-$11,610

Keep for 5 years

Total gain from holding
$102,108
13.2 percent a year on the equity you would have released
  • Cash flow, per year$456
  • Loan paydown$21,000
  • Appreciation$78,828

How to read the comparison

The two figures are not directly comparable until you ask what the sale proceeds would do next. Holding returns 13.2 percent a year on the equity you would otherwise free up. If you can reliably beat that with the proceeds, at a risk you are comfortable with, selling wins. If not, the property is doing its job.

  • Recapture is the line people forget. Every year of depreciation comes back at up to 25 percent, and after a decade it is often the biggest tax item at closing.
  • Appreciation here is an assumption, not a forecast. It compounds on the whole value while your equity is only part of it, which is why leverage flatters the hold case.
  • The 38 percent expense default covers taxes, insurance, maintenance, vacancy and management. Use your actual figures if you have them.
  • A 1031 exchange changes the maths by deferring both taxes. Price that path separately before you decide.

Frequently asked questions

Should I sell my rental property or keep it?

Compare two numbers on the same footing. Selling gives you a lump sum today, net of commission, closing costs, the mortgage payoff and the tax bill. Keeping gives you the cash flow, the loan paydown and the appreciation over your holding period. If the net proceeds invested elsewhere would beat the return on keeping, selling is the stronger choice on the numbers.

What is a seller net sheet?

An itemised estimate of what a seller actually walks away with: sale price, minus agent commission, transfer taxes, title and escrow fees, any repair credits, the remaining loan balance and prorated property taxes. The top half of this calculator is a seller net sheet.

What is depreciation recapture?

The depreciation you claimed against rental income each year is added back when you sell, and taxed at up to 25 percent. It is the line people forget, and on a property held ten years it is often the largest single tax item at closing.

How is capital gains tax calculated on a rental?

The gain is the sale price minus selling costs minus your adjusted basis, which is what you paid plus capital improvements minus the depreciation you claimed. Long term gains are taxed at zero, fifteen or twenty percent federally depending on income, and recapture is taxed separately.

Can I avoid the tax by exchanging instead of selling?

A 1031 exchange defers both the capital gains and the recapture if you reinvest in like kind property within the deadlines, 45 days to identify and 180 days to close. It defers rather than erases, and the rules are strict, so price both paths before committing.

What return should keeping have to beat?

Whatever the net proceeds would earn elsewhere, at the risk you are willing to take. That is the honest comparison, and it is why this calculator shows the annual return on keeping rather than only the dollars.

Related calculators

Both sides start with what the property is worth today. Run the address through Resideline for a value backed by comparable sales. This page is a planning tool, not tax advice.