Free calculator
Wholesale calculator: your max offer to the seller
A wholesale deal works backward. Start with what a flipper will pay, take off your fee, and that is the most you can offer the seller. This calculator runs that math with the rehab counted the way a buyer will count it, and flags the state licensing rules that can stop a deal.
Max offer to the seller
$150,500
Buyer's max price
$160,500
Spread at your contract
$15,500
Rehab with contingency
$49,500
Compliance
Check your state
North Carolina HB 797 (2025-2026 session) would define residential wholesaling as brokerage requiring a license and give homeowners a 30-day right to cancel. Verify enacted status before relying on this.
Buyer's max = their percent of ARV minus rehab with a 10% contingency. Max offer = buyer's max minus your fee. Compliance notes are not legal advice.
Comps, rehab, refi and a verdict for a real address. Your numbers come with you.
How to use it
Enter ARV and rehab
Use sold comps for the ARV. The rehab gets a 10% contingency, because your buyer will add one too.
Set the buyer's percent
Most cash buyers work from 65% to 75% of ARV, minus repairs. Use what your buyers really pay.
Enter your fee and contract price
Your assignment fee and the price you have, or plan to have, under contract.
Read the compliance note
Some states treat repeat wholesaling as brokerage. Count your deals in the last 12 months honestly.
Free here, deeper in the app
This free calculator
- The buyer's max price: their percent of ARV minus rehab with contingency
- Your max offer to the seller after your assignment fee
- The spread at the price you have under contract
- A plain compliance note for Virginia and North Carolina
Run The Deal app
- Comps and an ARV confidence score, so the buyer trusts your number
- A rehab estimate by scope or line item for the buyer packet
- The flip run from the buyer's side, so you know they can make money
- An offer packet for the seller
The wholesale formula, step by step
Wholesalers get paid from the gap between two prices: what a cash buyer will pay and what the seller will accept. You control neither, so the math has to start with the buyer.
- ARV from sold comps
- $300,000
- Buyer's percent of ARV
- 70% = $210,000
- Rehab with 10% contingency
- -$49,500
- Buyer's max price
- $160,500
- Your assignment fee
- -$10,000
If you already have it under contract at $145,000, the spread is $15,500 and your $10,000 fee fits with room to spare.
Where wholesale numbers go wrong
- A hopeful ARV. Your buyer will pull their own comps. Use the same kind of sold comps they will, and see how to read comps.
- A thin rehab. Price the big items, like roof, HVAC and foundation, on their own, then add contingency.
- The wrong buyer percent. 70% is a rule of thumb. In fast, high-priced markets buyers may go higher; in slow or rough areas, lower. Ask your buyers.
- Ignoring the law. Licensing rules change. Virginia already treats repeat wholesaling as brokerage.
Questions
How do I calculate my max offer as a wholesaler?
Take the buyer's percent of ARV, subtract the rehab with contingency, and subtract your assignment fee. With a $300,000 ARV, $45,000 rehab (about $49,500 with contingency), 70% and a $10,000 fee, that is $210,000 minus $49,500 minus $10,000, or $150,500.
What is the spread?
The difference between what your buyer will pay and the price you have under contract with the seller. It has to cover your fee. The calculator flags a spread under $5,000.
Do I need a license to wholesale?
It depends on the state. Virginia HB 917, effective July 1, 2024, treats dealing in real estate contracts two or more times in 12 months for pay as brokerage that needs a license. North Carolina has a pending bill. Check your state and talk to a real estate attorney.
Why add a contingency to the rehab?
Because the buyer will. A flipper prices surprises behind the walls into every bid. If you leave them out, your number looks better to the seller than it will to your buyer.
Learn the terms
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