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ARV calculator

After-repair value from comparable sales you choose. Enter what each comp sold for and its size; the calculator applies their price per square foot to your property and shows how far they disagree.

sf
CompSold priceLiving areaAdjustmentAdj. $/sf
1$sf$$200/sf
2$sf$$200/sf
3$sf$$200/sf

These are example comps so you can see how it works — replace them with your own.

After-repair value
$300,000
$200/sf average × 1,500 sf, from 3 comps
Range
$300,000 – $300,000
Lowest and highest comp, applied to the subject
Spread between comps
0%
Highest minus lowest $/sf, over the average
What each comp says the subject is worth
Comp 1 · $200/sf$300,000
Comp 2 · $200/sf$300,000
Comp 3 · $200/sf$300,000

This is the manual price-per-square-foot method on comps you chose. It does not check whether they are good comps.

ARVSignal provides investor estimates for educational and underwriting purposes. They are not appraisals, are not USPAP-compliant, and are not valuations for lending. The calculator works only from the numbers you enter.

Don’t know which comps to use?

ARVSignal finds the comps, rejects the bad ones and shows you why — then works out the offer. 7-day free trial, 5 analyses.

How it works

After-repair value is what a property should sell for once it is renovated. It is estimated from comps: similar houses nearby that sold recently in renovated condition. The simplest method scales each comp to the size of your property.

Adjusted price per sq ft = (comp sale price + your adjustment) ÷ comp living area
ARV = average adjusted price per sq ft × subject living area

The optional adjustment is for differences other than size — a garage the comp has and yours will not, an extra bathroom, a pool. Enter it as a negative number when the comp is better than your finished property will be, positive when it is worse.

The calculator also shows the range — what the lowest and the highest comp each imply — and warns when comps disagree by more than 15%. A wide spread usually means the comps are not really comparable to each other: one is unrenovated, across a boundary, much larger, or was not an open-market sale.

The hard part is not the arithmetic. This calculator trusts the comps you give it. Choosing them — and knowing which nearby sales to throw out — is where an ARV is won or lost.

A worked example

Your property will be 1,500 sq ft when finished. Three renovated houses nearby sold recently:

  • $290,000 at 1,450 sq ft → $200 per sq ft
  • $310,000 at 1,550 sq ft → $200 per sq ft
  • $330,000 at 1,600 sq ft, with a garage yours lacks: adjust −$10,000 → $200 per sq ft

Average $200 per sq ft × 1,500 sq ft = $300,000 ARV. The comps agree exactly here; real ones never do, which is what the range is for.

Load these numbers into the calculator

Common mistakes

Averaging every nearby sale
An average of renovated and unrenovated houses lands somewhere between as-is value and ARV. Use sales in the condition yours will be in.
Using sales that were not real sales
Transfers between family members, foreclosure deeds and bulk sales are not what a buyer on the open market paid. They pull the number down.
Stretching the size range
Price per square foot falls as houses get larger. A comp far bigger or smaller than yours distorts the result even after scaling.
Going back too far, or too far away
Six months and half a mile is a reasonable place to start in a built-up area. Reach further only when you have to, and trust the result less when you do.

Questions

›What is ARV in real estate?

After-repair value: the price a property should sell for once the planned renovation is complete. Investors use it to work out how much they can pay today.

›How do you calculate ARV?

Find recent sales of similar, renovated houses nearby; divide each sale price by its living area to get a price per square foot; average those, and multiply by the living area of your property. Adjust individual comps for meaningful differences such as a garage or an extra bathroom.

›How many comps do I need for an ARV?

At least three. With fewer, one unusual sale decides the answer. This calculator gives no value until three comps are entered. Four to six good ones are better than eight mixed ones.

›Is ARV the same as an appraisal or a Zestimate?

No. An appraisal is a licensed appraiser’s opinion of current value under professional standards. An automated estimate values a house as it is today. ARV is an investor’s estimate of value after a renovation that has not happened yet.

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