Student Question of the Week: Net Present Value Calculation
Student Question from Greg C
Course: Fundamentals of Financial Planning
Student Question:
Hello! It seems to me that the loan proceeds in Question 3 should be positive cash flow entries in year zero, especially if their repayments are negative CFs in Year 5. Why is this not so? Thanks – Greg
Question 3:
Donald buys small houses at foreclosure which he then rents out, planning to sell them in five years. Two houses are currently available to him. House #1 would require a $20,000 down payment and an $80,000 interest-only loan (i.e., whenever he decides to pay off the loan, the principal balance will always be $80,000). House #2 would require a $45,000 down payment and a $105,000 interest-only loan. He estimates the cash flows would be:
Year | House #1 | House #2 |
1 | $-1,000 | $1,500 |
2 | 1,000 | 1,750 |
3 | 1,500 | 1,750 |
4 | 1,750 | 2,000 |
5 | 2,000 | 2,250 |
Donald estimates he will be able to sell House #1 for $200,000 at the end of five years and House #2 for $240,000. Based on the risks he is taking, Donald thinks he should get at least a 10% return on his investment. Which house should he buy? [Hint: Be sure to net your final cash flow, which includes the net income, plus the proceeds of the sale, less the payoff of the principal of the mortgage.]
- House #1
- House #2
Instructor Response:
Hi Greg!
Yours is a very logical question. It’s confusing that we treat the loan proceeds as positive cash flow in a loan calculation but we do not in the NPV calculation. In a “payment” calculation, we enter the loan proceeds as a positive present value.
In the NPV calculation, the loan proceeds are ignored in period 0 and are accounted for as a negative cash flow in the year of sale. Here’s one way to view the NPV calculation. The NPV calculation measures only ACTUAL cash flows from or to our checking account.
I hope that helps. Let me know if not.
Bruce