Enter the after-repair value (ARV) and your repair budget. You'll instantly see your maximum allowable offer (MAO) from the 70% rule — the most you should pay for a flip or wholesale deal before you ever write an offer. Adjust the percentage and add a wholesale fee to match your own buy box.
Pre-filled with an example flip — edit any field. Results are screening-grade estimates, not investment advice or an appraisal; verify with your own comps and a contractor bid.
The rule bundles selling costs, holding, financing, and profit into one round buffer and hopes it fits your deal. The free Analyzer runs the exact inversion: it estimates ARV from recorded comparable sales (backtested — published 4.9–9.2% median error) and computes a calibrated max offer at YOUR target return, built from measured comps, county tax rates, and measured hold times — not a one-size buffer.
The 70% rule is the classic guardrail flippers and wholesalers use to set a ceiling on what they'll pay. It says: never pay more than 70% of the after-repair value (ARV), minus your repair costs. Written as a formula, that's MAO = (ARV × 70%) − repairs. The maximum allowable offer (MAO) it produces is the most you should offer and still leave room for everything that eats into a flip — selling costs, closing, holding and financing, and your profit. If you're wholesaling, you subtract your assignment fee too, so the number you hand your end buyer still works for them.
Your maximum allowable offer is simply the highest price the deal can support and still hit your target. The 70% rule is the most common way to back into it, because the 30% gap between ARV and your offer is a deliberate buffer. On a $450,000 ARV with $60,000 in repairs, the math is $450,000 × 70% = $315,000, then − $60,000 = $255,000. That $255,000 is the most you'd offer. If you also want a $10,000 wholesale fee, your MAO drops to $245,000 so there's room for you and your buyer. Anything above your MAO is a signal to negotiate or walk — not a reason to stretch.
Seventy percent is a starting point, not a law. In hot, low-inventory markets with strong appreciation, competitive buyers often flex up to 72–75% to win deals — accepting a thinner buffer because they trust the ARV. In softer or higher-risk markets, on larger rehabs, or when comps are uncertain, disciplined investors pull down to 60–65% to protect themselves. Higher-end properties and tight-margin commodity homes get treated differently too. The slider above lets you set the percentage that matches your market and your risk tolerance, rather than forcing every deal into a single number.
The 70% rule is a screening heuristic, not a guarantee. It doesn't model your actual selling costs, holding period, financing terms, or the specific scope of a renovation — it bundles all of that into one round spread and assumes it's enough. On a very light cosmetic flip it can be conservative; on a heavy gut or a slow, expensive-to-hold project it can be too generous. And the whole thing rests on two estimates that are easy to get wrong: the ARV and the repair budget. Use the MAO to decide which deals are worth a closer look, then pressure-test the winners with real comps, a contractor walkthrough, and a full deal analysis before you commit.
At high price points the buffer overshoots. On a $1,000,000 ARV the rule reserves a flat 30% — $300,000 — as its cushion. A realistic cost stack on that flip is closer to $180,000–$220,000 (roughly 7–8% in selling and closing costs, holding and financing for the project, and a healthy profit). The rule demands $80,000–$120,000 more discount than the deal actually needs — which means you lose winnable deals to buyers who underwrite the real costs instead of a flat percentage.
At low price points the same buffer runs thin. On a $120,000 ARV, 30% is only about $36,000 — and selling costs, holding, financing, and a minimum worthwhile profit can eat nearly all of it, leaving almost nothing for surprises. Percentages scale with price; many of the real costs don't.
Don't use this for rentals. The 70% rule prices a resale exit — flips and wholesale assignments. For a buy-and-hold or BRRRR deal the exit is a refinance and rent, so underwrite on cap rate and cash-on-cash return instead: use the BRRRR & cap-rate calculator.
A calculator tells you whether a deal clears your offer ceiling. It doesn't find the deal — and that's the real work for flippers and wholesalers. DevelopmentIntelligence estimates ARV from recorded comparable sales (backtested, with a published error rate) and computes a calibrated max offer at your target return for parcels in its covered markets — so the 70% rule becomes a sanity check you confirm, not something you grind through listing by listing. See plans and pricing →
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