Fix-and-flip calculator
What a flip actually makes after the loan, the months you hold it and the cost of selling — or, turned around, the most you can pay and still hit your profit target.
These are example numbers so you can see how it works — replace them with your deal.
Cash needed assumes interest and holding are paid monthly out of pocket and that draws reimburse repairs as they are spent; it does not model the float between paying a contractor and receiving a draw.
This is the 70% rule: ARV × 70% − repairs. The price does not change when you change repairs — the profit does.
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.
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How it works
Profit on a flip is the sale price less everything it took to get there. The purchase and the repairs are the obvious costs; the ones that sink deals are the smaller lines that scale with time and with the sale price.
Profit = ARV − purchase − repairs − loan costs − holding costs − buying costs − selling costs
- Loan costs — origination points and fees, plus interest. With hard money the purchase loan accrues interest for the whole hold; the repair loan is drawn as work is done, so it averages about half-drawn during the rehab and is fully drawn while you sell.
- Holding costs — taxes, insurance, utilities and any HOA, for every month from purchase to sale.
- Selling costs — agent commission, transfer tax and closing, as a percentage of the sale price. These are usually the largest cost after purchase and repairs.
Switch Calculate my to Max offer and the calculator solves the other way: given a profit target, what is the highest purchase price that still reaches it? Because a lender caps the loan at a share of ARV, this cannot be done with one formula — it is found by search.
Cash needed is not the same as cost. With financing, most of the purchase and repairs is the lender’s money; your cash is the down payment plus closing, loan and holding costs. That is the figure cash-on-cash return is measured against.
A worked example
ARV $300,000, repairs $85,000, purchase $125,000. Hard money funds 90% of the purchase and all of the repairs at 9% with 2 points. Three months of rehab and three to sell; taxes $250 a month.
- Loan: $112,500 + $85,000 = $197,500 · points $3,950 · interest $7,931
- Holding: ($250 tax + $125 insurance) × 6 months = $2,250
- Buying costs 1.5% = $1,875 · selling costs 7% = $21,000
- Total cost $247,006 → profit $52,994, a 17.7% margin
- Cash needed $28,506 → cash-on-cash 186%; break-even sale price $243,017
The same deal paid for in cash makes more — $64,875 — but ties up $214,125, a 30.3% return. Leverage lowers the profit and raises the return.
Common mistakes
- Forgetting the selling costs
- Commission, transfer tax and closing commonly take 6–8% of the sale price. On a $300,000 sale that is around $20,000 that never reaches you.
- Assuming it sells the day it is finished
- Listing, an accepted offer, inspection and closing take months. Every one of them carries interest, taxes and insurance.
- Leaving holding costs blank
- Blank fields count as zero here on purpose — we do not invent your utility bill. Fill in what you know, or the profit is overstated.
- Reading cash-on-cash as the whole story
- A leveraged deal can show a very high return on a small amount of cash while the profit in dollars is thin. Look at both, and at the break-even price.
Questions
›How do you calculate profit on a house flip?
Start from the after-repair value and subtract the purchase price, repairs, loan costs (points, fees and interest), holding costs for every month you own it, the costs of buying, and the costs of selling such as commission and transfer tax.
›What is a good profit margin on a flip?
There is no universal figure. Many investors look for profit of at least 10% of the after-repair value as a cushion against repairs running over and the sale price coming in under; the calculator uses that as its default target, which you can change.
›How is hard money interest calculated here?
Interest-only on the drawn balance. The purchase loan is outstanding for the whole hold. The repair loan is released in draws, so it is treated as half-drawn on average during the rehab months and fully drawn afterwards.
›What does break-even sale price mean?
It is the sale price at which the flip makes exactly nothing, after selling costs. The gap between it and your ARV is how far the market can move against you before you lose money.
More free calculators
- MAO calculatorYour maximum allowable offer, opening offer and buyer price on a wholesale deal.
- BRRRR calculatorHow much cash the refinance returns, and whether the rent carries the new loan.
- Rehab calculatorA first-pass repair budget from living area, state and level of work.
- ARV calculatorAfter-repair value from comps you choose, with the range they imply.