ARV Calculator
ARV — after repair value — is what a property sells for once the renovation is done. It is not the current value and it is not a Zestimate. It comes from comparable sales: nearby properties, recently sold, already in the condition yours will be in when you finish.
Calculator
Estimate ARV from comparable sales
Enter what nearby renovated properties actually sold for, then your property's size. Two comps minimum; three is better.
ARV is not the current value
This is the single most expensive mistake in the whole process, and it is easy to make because the wrong number is the one that is free and instant.
An automated valuation — a Zestimate or any similar estimate — models the property as it stands today. If it has a failed roof, a kitchen from 1974 and carpet that needs skipping, that is the house being valued. ARV is the same address after you have fixed all of it.
On a genuinely distressed property those two numbers can be tens of thousands apart. Feed the current estimate into an offer formula as though it were the ARV and you will calculate a maximum offer that is far too low to win — or, if the property is merely dated rather than distressed, one that is dangerously high.
What makes a sale comparable
Every method depends entirely on which sales you choose. The principles are the same ones an appraiser applies:
- Sold, not listed. An asking price is an opinion. A closed sale is evidence. Active listings tell you what sellers hope for, which is consistently more than buyers pay.
- Recent. Markets move. A sale from two years ago describes a different market, not this one.
- Close by. Same neighbourhood, ideally the same few streets. School catchments and main roads can move values sharply over short distances.
- Similar property. Comparable bedroom and bathroom count, and comparable size. A four-bed does not tell you much about a two-bed on the same street.
- Already renovated. You are estimating a finished house, so your comps need to be finished houses. Comparing against other distressed sales gives you today's value, not the ARV.
- Arm's length. Family transfers, foreclosure auctions and other forced sales do not reflect open-market value.
Three sales that genuinely match beat ten that loosely do. One badly chosen comp — a flip that sold to an owner-occupier at a premium, a probate sale that went cheap — can drag an average far enough to break the deal.
Why this is the part that takes the time
The arithmetic on this page takes a second. Assembling the inputs is what takes the hour: pulling recent sales, discarding the ones that are not really comparable, checking whether each was actually renovated, noticing the one that sold between relatives.
And the accuracy matters more than anywhere else in the deal. Every offer formula multiplies the ARV, so an error there is amplified into your offer. On a $300,000 property, being 10% out moves your maximum allowable offer by $21,000 — which is usually the entire margin.
PropGlimmer does the comp selection
Enter an address and it pulls recent sales, narrows them to properties that genuinely match on location, size and layout, and returns the ARV along with the repair estimate and your maximum offer. The hour of filtering becomes about thirty seconds. Free to start, on iOS, Android and the web.
Try PropGlimmer FreeCommon questions
How many comps do I need?
Three closely matching recent sales is the usual minimum. With one or two, a single unusual sale distorts the whole answer.
What if my property is a different size to every comp?
Price per square foot handles moderate differences and breaks down at large ones — cost per square foot is not linear, so a 900 sq ft house and a 2,400 sq ft house on the same street will not share a rate. If nothing close in size has sold recently, that is a signal to widen the search area rather than stretch the maths.
Should I add the renovation cost to the ARV?
No, and this catches people out. ARV is what the finished house sells for, full stop. Spending $50,000 does not add $50,000 to the value — sometimes it adds more, often less. The comps tell you what finished houses sell for; your spend is a separate line in the deal.