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ARV calculator.
Finished value from comparable sales, per square foot. The number every other number in the deal depends on.
Work out an ARV
Comparable 1
Comparable 2
Comparable 3
Your property
Enter at least one comparable sale and your property’s size.
Price per square foot is a starting point, not an appraisal. It ignores condition, layout, lot, and the fact that the market moves. Read the rest of this guide before you rely on the figure, then price the whole deal in the deal calculators.
How to read it
What the number means.
After repair value is the number the whole deal hangs from. The offer comes from it, the loan is sized against it, and the profit is measured to it, which means an ARV that is ten percent optimistic is not a ten percent problem. It is the entire margin.
The method here is the one an appraiser uses: sold comparables, per square foot, adjusted for the property you are actually buying. Sold, not listed. A listing price is somebody's opinion and a sold price is a fact, and the gap between the two is where most bad ARVs come from.
Comparables should be recent, close, and similar in style and size. A comparable from the wrong side of a boundary street is worse than no comparable at all, because it carries the same confidence and none of the relevance.
Questions
About the arithmetic.
How many comparables do I need?
Three is the working minimum and more is better, provided they are genuinely comparable. Adding a fourth that does not fit makes the average worse rather than more reliable.
How recent do the sales have to be?
The last six months in most markets, and tighter than that where prices are moving quickly. In a fast market a sale from a year ago is a different market, not an old data point.
Should I use listing prices?
No. Use sold prices. A listing is what somebody hoped for and a sale is what somebody paid, and only one of those is evidence.
Does per square foot always work?
It works well for similar homes in the same area and badly across different property styles or very different sizes. Treat the result as a starting point that a local agent can sanity check, not as an appraisal.
Method
Where these numbers come from.
How to calculate ARV without fooling yourself
After repair value is the number every other number depends on. Here is how to build one from comparable sales, and the five ways it gets inflated.
Maximum allowable offer: setting your ceiling before you bid
MAO is the highest price at which a deal still works. Calculate it before you see the asking price, because the asking price will move your number.
The 70% rule in house flipping, and the deals where it lies to you
The 70% rule is a filter, not an underwriting model. Here is what it assumes, and the four situations where following it loses money.
Other tools
The rest of them.
Hard money loan calculator, Fix and flip calculator, BRRRR calculator, DSCR calculator, Rehab cost calculator, Construction loan calculator, Rental portfolio calculator, Transactional funding calculator.
This is an estimating tool. It runs arithmetic on the figures you enter using the assumptions stated above, and changing an assumption changes the answer. The result is not a quote, an approval, an appraisal, a valuation, or a prediction of what a property will sell for, and it does not commit anyone to lend. Costs, taxes and market conditions vary by location and change over time. Check the numbers that matter against your own contractor, agent and professional advisers before you commit to a deal.
When the numbers work
Get it priced.
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