Maximum allowable offer calculator: apply the 70 percent rule to ARV minus repair costs to set a profitable fix and flip offer. Editable, free, no signup.
70% rule: max offer = 70% × ARV − rehab. Adjust the rule to your market and risk.
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Calculation details
Every figure above is calculated locally in your browser from the assumptions shown. No inputs are sent anywhere. See the methodology section below for how this tool works.
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Worked example: where the two numbers diverge
Take a house with an after-repair value of $250,000, a $40,000 rehab budget, $15,000 in holding and selling costs, and a $30,000 target profit. The back-solved offer is ARV minus everything else: $250,000 - $40,000 - $15,000 - $30,000 = $165,000. That is the most you can pay and still walk away with the profit you demanded.
The 70% rule gives a different ceiling on the same house: 0.7 x $250,000 = $175,000, minus the $40,000 rehab = $135,000. The $30,000 gap between $135,000 and $165,000 is exactly the slack the flat 30% multiplier leaves for carrying costs plus profit on this deal. Your actual costs and profit only total $85,000 (34% of ARV), so the 70% rule is conservative here and the calculator's figure is the true ceiling.
Flip the cost profile and the ranking reverses. At $85,000 in costs (34% of ARV) the 70% rule binds; at costs above 30% of ARV, the back-solved number is lower and should always win. Track which constraint is active on every deal: it tells you whether your risk is overpaying or underestimating costs.
Where the math quietly fails
The formula treats holding and selling costs as a single fixed line, but they scale with time and price. A $250,000 flip carrying 6% in agent fees and closing costs eats $15,000 on its own; add taxes, insurance, utilities and loan interest at roughly $2,000 per month, and a flip that takes 9 months instead of 5 adds about $8,000 in overrun. The calculator only knows the number you typed, not the schedule behind it.
Rehab is the bigger liar. Contractor bids on $40,000 jobs come in 15% to 25% over roughly a third of the time, so a prudent operator prices rehab at $46,000 to $50,000 before back-solving the offer. If the reveal (opening walls, old wiring, foundation cracks) adds another $20,000, a $165,000 offer that pencilled at $30,000 profit is now a $10,000 loss before you sell.
Also note the formula does not include your financing or the buyer's concession requests. If you borrow the purchase at 10% interest, that cost belongs in the holding input, and inspection-period repair credits come straight out of profit at closing. Enter pessimistic numbers; the output is only as honest as its inputs.
