Is Your Denver Rental Actually Performing? 5 Numbers Every Landlord Should Know

Most landlords we meet can tell you their rent and their mortgage payment. Some can tell you their approximate cash flow. But very few can tell you their cap rate, their expense ratio, or what their effective gross income actually is after vacancies and concessions.

That's not a criticism — running a rental property is a lot to manage. But if you don't know these numbers, you can't tell whether your investment is actually working for you. And in Denver's current market, where purchase prices are still elevated and operating costs keep climbing, the margin for inefficiency is thin.

Here are five numbers every Denver landlord should know — and what they actually mean for your bottom line.

1. Gross Rental Income

This is simple: the total rent you collect if the unit is occupied 100% of the time for a full year. If your rent is $2,200/month, your gross rental income is $26,400/year.

This is your starting point — everything else is measured against it.

2. Effective Gross Income (EGI)

This is gross income minus vacancy and credit loss. The Denver metro has seen vacancy rates fluctuate — tighter in core neighborhoods, looser in some outer suburbs. If your unit sits vacant for three weeks between tenants each year, that's roughly $1,700 in lost income on a $2,200/month unit.

Most experienced property managers budget for 5–8% vacancy. If you're not accounting for this in your projections, your numbers are too optimistic.

3. Operating Expense Ratio

This is your total operating expenses divided by your gross rental income. For a single-family rental, a healthy ratio is typically 35–50%. For older properties or those with deferred maintenance, it can run higher.

Operating expenses include: property taxes, insurance, maintenance and repairs, property management fees (if applicable), landscaping, HOA dues, and any utilities you cover. They do not include your mortgage payment.

If your expense ratio is above 55%, something is eating into your returns — and it's worth figuring out what.

4. Net Operating Income (NOI)

NOI = Effective Gross Income − Operating Expenses. This is the number that tells you whether the property, independent of how you financed it, is a good investment.

For a property generating $25,000 in EGI with $11,000 in operating expenses, NOI = $14,000/year. That's the number you'd use to calculate cap rate or compare to other investment options.

5. Cash-on-Cash Return

This is the one that really matters for leveraged investors. Cash-on-cash return = annual cash flow ÷ total cash invested. If you put $60,000 down and your property generates $4,800/year in cash flow after mortgage and expenses, your cash-on-cash return is 8%.

In Denver, cash-on-cash returns have compressed as prices rose faster than rents in some neighborhoods. Wash Park and Congress Park, for example, are often appreciation plays more than cash flow plays. Aurora, Commerce City, and parts of Lakewood tend to pencil better for pure cash flow investors.

Knowing your cash-on-cash return lets you compare your rental to other investments honestly — stock market, other properties, whatever your alternatives are.

What To Do With These Numbers

Once you have these five figures, you can start asking better questions:

• Is my rent at market, or am I leaving $100–$200/month on the table?
• Are my maintenance costs trending up? (That might signal deferred work catching up with you.)
• What would professional management cost, and would the reduction in vacancy and maintenance headaches make it net positive?

We run these numbers for every owner we work with during our onboarding process — and for a lot of landlords, it's the first time they've seen their investment broken down this clearly. Sometimes the numbers look great. Sometimes there are real opportunities we can identify together.

Either way, you deserve to know.

If you'd like us to take a look at your property's performance, call us at 303-228-7800 or visit rentmyhaven.com. We're always happy to have a straightforward conversation about what the numbers say.

My Haven is a full-service property management company proudly serving the Denver metro area.