Guide
What is ARV in real estate? After-repair value, formula and examples
ARV, or after-repair value, is what a property should sell for once the planned repairs are done, based on recent sales of similar renovated homes nearby. Wholesalers and flippers estimate it from sold comps, then subtract repairs, costs and profit to decide what to offer.
What does ARV stand for in real estate?
In real estate terms, ARV stands for after-repair value, the price a property should sell for on the open market once the planned repairs are complete. A home's ARV is an estimate based on what similar renovated homes nearby have actually sold for, not on what the house is worth today or what the seller wants for it.
Three groups lean on the number:
- Wholesalers use it to work back to a maximum offer, because their cash buyers price every deal off ARV.
- Flippers use it to decide whether the gap between purchase plus repairs and the resale price is worth the risk.
- Lenders that make fix-and-flip loans can size them partly on it. Kiavi, for example, lists fix-and-flip loans of up to 80% of after-repair value (Kiavi, checked Oct 2026).
ARV is a forecast. Nobody has agreed to pay it yet, so the comps behind it decide how far you can trust it.
The ARV formula
The reliable ARV formula starts from sold comps, not from your repair budget.
| Method | Formula | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Comps (price per square foot) | Average sold price per sq ft of renovated comps × subject sq ft, then adjust | Your actual ARV |
| Value added | As-is value + the value the repairs add | A rough cross-check only |
| Wholesale offer (MAO) | ARV × 70% − repairs − assignment fee | Turning ARV into an offer |
The value-added version shows up in some investor guides, but it hides a trap: repair dollars don't turn into sale-price dollars one for one. A new sewer line or furnace can cost a lot, yet the finished house still competes with renovated comps that already have working systems, so the market price doesn't rise by what you spent. Get the number from comps, and use the value-added math only to sanity-check it.
The 70% in the MAO formula is a rule of thumb for fix-and-flip buyers, not a law. Set it to what your buyers actually pay; the ARV calculator shows the same deal at 65%, 70% and 75%.
How to calculate ARV with comps
To calculate ARV (or determine it for an offer), define the finished house, find three to six recent sales of similar renovated homes nearby, and price the subject from their price per square foot plus adjustments.
- Define the finished house. Write down the beds, baths, finished square footage and finish level after the rehab. If you're adding a bathroom or finishing a basement, comp the house you'll sell, not the one you'll buy.
- Pull sold comps, not listings. Use closed sales from the MLS (through an agent), county sale records or listing sites' sold filters. Fannie Mae's appraisal rules require at least three closed comparables and say sales that closed within the last 12 months should be used (Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-1.3-08, checked Oct 2026). When the finished house sells to a buyer with a mortgage, the appraisal on that sale is held to rules like these.
- Keep only true comparables. Fannie Mae names site, room count, finished area, style and condition among the characteristics that should be similar. For ARV, similar condition means renovated: check listing photos and remarks, and drop distressed sales, auctions and sales between relatives.
- Stay inside the subject's market. Use the same subdivision or school area where you can, and the same side of any busy road, rail line or boundary that buyers care about.
- Work out price per square foot for each comp: sold price ÷ finished square feet. Average them, or use the median if one comp is an outlier.
- Multiply by the subject's square footage. That's your starting ARV.
- Adjust for what the average misses, such as a garage, an extra bathroom, a much larger lot or a busy street. The best evidence for an adjustment is two similar sales that differ mainly in that one feature.
- Check the range. Compare your number with the lowest and highest renovated sale. If the comps disagree, lean toward the low end: your buyer will.
Where to get sold comps and ARV estimates
- An agent with MLS access: sold prices with photos, days on market and concessions.
- County records: many recorder or assessor sites show recent sale prices and dates, which you can match to the property's square footage.
- Listing sites' sold filters: fast, but check the photos to confirm each comp was renovated.
- Lender estimators: Kiavi's ARV estimator takes an address, purchase price and rehab budget and returns an ARV with valuation comparables, for single-family homes, townhouses, condos and PUDs with fewer than 5 bedrooms and 800 to 3,000 square feet (Kiavi ARV estimator, checked Oct 2026).
Treat any automated ARV estimate as a starting point, then check the comps behind it yourself.
Worked example: a $200,000 ARV
This example uses the default comps in our calculator, so you can follow along with the same numbers. The subject is a 1,400 sq ft house at [Property address], and the rehab brings it to the same finish as the comps.
| Comp | Sold price | Sq ft | Price per sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| [Comp 1 address] | $205,000 | 1,450 | $141.38 |
| [Comp 2 address] | $189,000 | 1,320 | $143.18 |
| [Comp 3 address] | $214,000 | 1,500 | $142.67 |
| Average | $142.41 |
- Starting ARV: $142.41 × 1,400 sq ft = $199,373.
- Adjustments: none here, because the comps match the finished subject. On a real deal, add or subtract [Adjustment amount] for each difference.
- ARV: about $199,400. We round to $200,000 to match the calculator's default inputs; on a real deal, keep the unrounded figure or round down.
Then the offer math, with a $30,000 repair estimate and a $10,000 assignment fee:
| Step | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer's 70% | $200,000 × 70% | $140,000 |
| Minus repairs | $140,000 − $30,000 | $110,000 (your buyer's maximum price) |
| Minus your fee | $110,000 − $10,000 | $100,000 (your MAO) |
At $110,000 plus $30,000 of repairs, your buyer is in for $140,000 on a house that should resell for about $200,000. The $60,000 gap has to cover their financing, holding and selling costs and their profit. Run their side of the deal in the fix-and-flip calculator.
How a miss changes your offer
An ARV miss moves your MAO by 70 cents on the dollar; a repair miss moves it dollar for dollar.
| If | MAO becomes | Change |
|---|---|---|
| ARV is $190,000 instead of $200,000 | $93,000 | −$7,000 |
| ARV is $210,000 instead of $200,000 | $107,000 | +$7,000 |
| Repairs are $35,000 instead of $30,000 | $95,000 | −$5,000 |
| ARV is $190,000 and repairs are $35,000 | $88,000 | −$12,000 |
Two small misses together cost $12,000 of room, more than the whole $10,000 fee in this example. That's why the comps and the walkthrough deserve more time than the formula.
ARV vs appraisal vs as-is value
ARV is your forecast of the finished value, an appraisal is a professional's written opinion of value for a lender, and as-is value is what the house is worth today without repairs.
| ARV | Appraisal | As-is value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it estimates | Sale price after repairs | Market value for a loan decision | Value in today's condition |
| Who produces it | You, your buyer or a lender | An appraiser, for the lender | You, an agent or a buyer |
| Based on | Sold comps in renovated condition | Comparable sales under the lender's rules | Sold comps in similar condition |
| What it's used for | MAO, dispo, loan sizing | Approving the loan amount | What the seller could get without fixing it |
The CFPB describes an appraisal as "a written document that shows an opinion of how much a property is worth" (CFPB, checked Oct 2026). An appraisal can also look ahead. Fannie Mae allows "as is" appraisals when existing conditions are minor, but when the appraiser finds deficiencies that affect safety, soundness or structural integrity, the property must be appraised "subject to" completion of the repairs (Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-1.3-06, checked Oct 2026). A "subject to" appraisal is the closest thing to an official ARV, and it's the lender's number, not yours.
Quick flips get one more check. The CFPB says certain higher-priced mortgage loans on a flipped home need a second appraisal when the seller bought it within the past 90 days and the price is more than 10% higher, or within 91 to 180 days and more than 20% higher, and the lender pays for it (CFPB, checked Oct 2026). An ARV that only holds up if nobody appraises the finished house is not one your buyer can count on.
Common ARV mistakes
- Using list prices or automated estimates. Asking prices are hopes; only closed sales show what buyers paid.
- Mixing renovated and unrenovated sales. One distressed sale drags the average down, and one high-end flip pushes it up.
- Comping across a boundary. A sale in another school area or across a highway can be a different market at the same distance.
- Ignoring size. Price per square foot changes with size, so a comp much larger or smaller than the subject can skew the average. Stay close to the subject's size.
- Pricing a finish the street won't support. An ARV above the best renovated sale nearby is hard to defend to a buyer or an appraiser.
- Stale comps in a moving market. If prices are falling, an older sale overstates today's value.
- Cherry-picking. Using the best comp because it makes the deal work is how wholesalers end up with contracts nobody will buy.
- Forgetting your buyer runs the numbers too. If your ARV is above theirs, your MAO is too, and the contract won't assign at your fee.
Where ARV fits in a wholesale deal
ARV is the first number in the chain: it sets MAO, MAO sets your offer, and the offer becomes the contract you later assign (see how an assignment contract works). Keep the comps with the deal. When you market it, buyers check your ARV against their own, so put the comps and the repair estimate in the description on your dispo page. New to the business model? Start with what real estate wholesaling is.
In Find, each deal tracks its ARV, rehab, MAO, assignment fee, earnest money, and contract and closing dates, and the spread is calculated for you. You enter MAO yourself (there's no MAO calculator inside the app; the free web calculator is the quick way to get it), and Find doesn't provide comps or property data, so pull comps from the sources above.
Frequently asked questions
Can you estimate ARV without comps?
Not reliably. Automated values and lender tools such as Kiavi's ARV estimator give you a starting number, and adding the value of the repairs to the as-is value is a rough cross-check, but a number you can offer on comes from at least three sold, renovated comps you have checked yourself.
How accurate does an ARV estimate need to be?
Accurate enough that your buyer's own number lands close to yours. With the 70% rule, every $10,000 of ARV error moves your maximum offer by $7,000, so on a $10,000 assignment fee a small miss can erase most of the fee. Keep the comps with the deal so you can show your work.
Does a house's current condition change its ARV?
Not directly. ARV assumes the work is done, so it comes from renovated comps, while today's condition sets the repair budget and the as-is value. The scope still matters: a cosmetic refresh and a full renovation produce different finished houses, so match your comps to the finish your buyer will deliver.
Do hard money lenders lend based on ARV?
Some do. Kiavi, for example, lists fix-and-flip loans of up to 80% of after-repair value (checked October 2026). The lender's own valuation sets the ARV it lends against, not yours.
Can ARV be higher than the highest sale in the neighborhood?
It is hard to support. ARV comes from what similar renovated homes actually sold for, so a value above the best nearby sale needs a clear reason, such as more finished space or a feature none of the comps have. Buyers and appraisers tend to discount it, so set your offer from the supportable range.