Deal Math Calculator: Max Offer, Profit, Cash and Return on a Flip

Authored by Carson Nordmann, Founder of Keystone Court Data. See our editorial standards.

Type in your own estimates for a house you might buy, fix and resell, with or without a hard-money loan. The calculator works out the highest offer that still leaves your profit, the profit and cash out of pocket at your offer, the return on that cash, the break-even resale price, what each extra month costs, a what-if grid for a lower resale or bigger repairs, and the room left if you assign the contract instead.

The deal

Example numbers are filled in. Replace each one with your own estimate; every answer updates as you type.

Resale price after repairs

What you expect it to sell for once fixed (often called ARV).

Repairs

Your repair budget, including a contingency.

Your offer

The purchase price you are weighing.

Months until resold

From your purchase closing to your resale closing.

Months of repairs

Used for interest on repair money drawn as work is done.

Holding cost per month

Taxes, insurance, utilities, HOA. Leave loan interest out; it is worked out below.

Buying costs

% of offer

Closing costs, title and fees when you buy. Leave lender points and fees out; they go in the loan section.

Selling costs

% of resale

Commissions, closing costs, transfer taxes and buyer concessions.

Profit you want

Sets the highest-offer answer. A dollar amount, or a share of the resale price.

Use a loan (hard money or private)

Share of purchase financed

% of offer

Your down payment is the rest.

Share of repairs financed

Repair money the lender funds.

Interest rate

% a year

Interest-only, simple interest by the month.

Points

% of loan

Origination on the purchase and repair money borrowed.

Other loan fees, in total

Underwriting, doc and other one-time fees.

Fee per draw

Inspection or wire fee on each repair draw, paid in cash as each draw funds.

Interest on repair money

"Once drawn": each draw carries interest from the day the lender pays it, with the draws spread evenly over the repair months. Lenders differ; check your term sheet.

Repair draws are paid

If the lender repays each draw after that stage of work is done, you pay for it first. With interest only once drawn, a draw's interest starts when the lender pays it.

Number of repair draws

draws

Financed repair money split into this many equal draws.

Interest is paid

Simple interest either way; this moves it out of your cash, not out of the profit.

Points and fees are

Added to the loan, they also carry interest.

The answers

Highest offer for your profit-

Profit at your offer-

Cash at closing-

Cash out of pocket, in all-

Cash to have available-

Return on cash out of pocket-

Break-even resale price at your offer-

Each extra month costs-

Where the resale price goes, at your offer

What if the resale comes in lower or repairs run over?

Each cell recomputes the deal with the resale price and repair cost moved from your estimates. Repair overruns are paid in cash, not financed. Months stay fixed; the line under the grid adds time.

If you assign the contract instead (wholesale)

Your contract price with the seller

Rule-of-thumb check:

This is arithmetic on the estimates you type in, for general information only. It is not investment, financial, tax or legal advice, and it does not know the property, the market, your loan's actual terms, taxes on a sale or the costs in your area. Every result is only as good as the estimates entered. Check the numbers with your own lender, accountant and other professionals before relying on them.

How each number is worked out

Loan: the share of the offer you finance plus the share of the repairs you finance, plus points and fees if you add them to the loan. Interest is simple and interest-only at the yearly rate you enter, for the months until resale. Repair money carries interest either from day one or, if you pick it, only once drawn: it is split into the number of equal draws you enter, spread evenly over the repair months, and each draw carries interest from the day the lender pays it (at the start of its stage if paid straight to the work, at the end if repaid after the work) until the sale. Points are a percentage of the purchase and repair money borrowed (not of points added to the loan); other loan fees are added as entered, and the fee per draw is paid in cash as each repair draw funds (never added to the loan).
Profit at your offer: resale price minus selling costs, the offer, buying costs, repairs, holding costs, interest, points and fees. It is before income tax.
Cash at closing: the part of the offer the loan does not cover, buying costs, and points and fees unless they are added to the loan.
Cash out of pocket, in all: cash at closing plus the repairs the loan does not cover, holding costs, any draw fees and, if interest is paid monthly, the interest. It assumes the loan is paid off from the sale.
Cash to have available: if the lender repays each repair draw after the work is done, you pay for each one first; this adds one draw (the financed repair money divided by the number of draws) to the cash out of pocket in all. It adds nothing for surprises.
Return on cash out of pocket: profit divided by cash out of pocket in all. The yearly figure, shown only for a profit, is that return times 12, divided by the months held: simple, not compounded, and as if all the cash went in on day one.
Highest offer for your profit: every cost that grows with the price (the price itself, buying costs, and the financed share's points and interest) is worked out per dollar of offer, and the calculator solves for the offer that leaves exactly your profit target. Under it are the cash out of pocket and the loan ratios at that price.
Break-even resale price at your offer: the resale price at which, after selling costs, you get back every dollar put in, borrowed or not, at the offer and loan entered.
Each extra month: the monthly holding cost plus one month of interest on the whole loan, which is what a slow sale adds once the repairs are done.
What-if grid: the deal recomputed with the resale price and the repair cost moved by the percentages shown, either as profit at your offer or as the highest offer for your profit. Repair overruns are paid in cash, not financed. A target set as a share of the resale price is taken from each row's resale price. The line under the grid adds one, two or four months to the hold.
Wholesale view: the highest offer, computed from these same numbers, minus your contract price with the seller.

What it leaves out

Income tax on the profit, prepaid interest, interest reserves or escrows a lender collects at closing, interest worked out on a 360-day year (this uses one twelfth of the yearly rate per month), minimum-interest periods, prepayment penalties, extension fees if the loan runs past its term, draw inspection timing, interest on interest, and the chance the house takes longer to sell or sells for less. It does not know any lender's real terms or any property. A small change in the resale price or the repair estimate often moves the answer a lot; the what-if grid shows how much.

General information only, not investment, financial, tax or legal advice. The calculator only does arithmetic on the numbers typed into it; it holds no data about any property or market.