What are average operating expenses for a rental property?

On a typical rental, operating expenses run 30 to 45% of effective gross income once every line is counted: property taxes, insurance, maintenance, capital reserves and management. The default property in the calculator sits at 36.6%, with $16,708 of expenses on $45,600 of collected income. Mortgage payments, depreciation and income tax are not operating expenses.

That 36.6% is $6,000 of taxes, $2,500 of insurance and 18% of collected income for maintenance, reserves and management. Taxes and insurance are fixed dollars; the other three scale with rent.

The average misses in three spots: a high-tax county, an owner who pays heat or water, and rent far below market. Any of those pushes you past 45%. See what counts as an operating expense and what is not included in NOI, then run your own lines on the NOI calculator.