ARV Calculator — After-Repair Value from Comps

Enter your subject property's square footage and a few recently sold comparable homes. The calculator finds each comp's price per square foot, takes the median, and applies it to your home to estimate its after-repair value (ARV) — plus a low–high range — the same comps-based method appraisers and flippers use.

Pre-filled with example comps — edit any field. This is a screening-grade estimate, not a certified appraisal or investment advice. Verify with your own comps and adjust for condition, lot, and location.

What is ARV (after-repair value)?

After-repair value is what a property will be worth after it's fully renovated — the price it should sell for in its improved condition. It's the anchor number for nearly every flip or value-add deal: your maximum offer, your rehab budget, and your projected profit all hang off the ARV. Get it wrong and every downstream number is wrong, which is why estimating it carefully — from real sold comps, not asking prices — matters so much.

How to calculate ARV with comps and $/sqft

The standard way to calculate ARV is the comparable sales (or "comps") method, the same approach a licensed appraiser uses. The shortcut version this calculator runs is:

• Pull a handful of recently sold homes similar to your renovated subject (size, age, condition, location).
• For each comp, divide its sale price by its square footage to get a price per square foot ($/sqft).
• Take the median $/sqft across the comps — the middle value, which ignores one unusually high or low sale.
• ARV = your subject's square footage × the median $/sqft.

This tool also shows a low–high range built from the cheapest and most expensive comp $/sqft, so you can see how wide the comps disagree. A tight range means confident comps; a wide range means you should pull better ones or adjust manually.

How to pull good comps

The estimate is only as good as the comps behind it. Strong comps are:

• Recent — closed sales in roughly the last 3–6 months, so they reflect today's market.
• Nearby — ideally within about a mile and in the same neighborhood, school zone, or submarket.
• Similar in size — within roughly ±20% of your subject's square footage, so the $/sqft compares fairly.
• Similar in condition and type — match renovated comps to your renovated subject, not tired fixers.
• Actual sales — use sold prices, never list/asking prices, which are wishful and often negotiated down.

The limits of a $/sqft ARV estimate

Price per square foot is a fast screen, not the whole story. Two homes of identical size can be worth very different amounts because of lot size, condition, layout, finishes, garage, view, and exact location — and a raw $/sqft median doesn't adjust for any of that. A real appraisal makes line-item adjustments comp by comp. Treat this calculator's output as a screening-grade estimate to decide whether a deal is worth a closer look, then refine it with adjusted comps, a local agent's broker price opinion, or an appraisal before you commit capital. It is not investment advice.

From a manual estimate to automatic ARV

Doing this by hand for one property is fine. Doing it for every parcel in a market is not. DevelopmentIntelligence.ai runs the comps-based method automatically, drawing on real recorded county sales rather than asking prices, and returns an ARV with a value range on every deal it scores. That's the difference between checking one property and surfacing the mispriced ones across a whole market. Browse scored Phoenix value-add deals →

ARV calculator FAQ

What is ARV?

ARV stands for after-repair value — the estimated market value of a property once it has been fully renovated. It's the price the improved home should sell for, and it anchors your maximum offer, rehab budget, and projected profit on a flip or value-add deal.

How do I calculate ARV?

Pull several recently sold comparable homes near your property, divide each one's sale price by its square footage to get a price per square foot, take the median of those figures, and multiply it by your subject home's square footage. That product is your estimated ARV. Adjust for differences in condition, lot, and location.

How accurate is an ARV estimate?

A $/sqft ARV is a screening-grade estimate, not a certified appraisal. Its accuracy depends entirely on the quality of your comps — recent, nearby, similar-size sold properties give a tighter, more reliable number, while stale or dissimilar comps widen the range. For a deal you're committing capital to, confirm with adjusted comps, a broker price opinion, or a licensed appraisal. For reference, DevelopmentIntelligence's automated comps model backtests to a 6.6% median error against recorded Maricopa sales — published, with the methodology.

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