What is ARV and how is it calculated?

The After Repair Value is the value of a property after it has been rehabbed, not in its current condition.

What is ARV in Real Estate?

If you’re thinking about flipping a property, you might be wondering “what does ARV mean?” as you come across the term in your preparation. ARV takes the value of the final rehabbed property into consideration and serves as a way to determine how much money you should put into an investment. To calculate ARV, an appraiser will go and look at the property to determine its current value, and then the value after it is repaired, based on a repair list submitted by Rehab Financial.

The appraiser will look at the repairs on the list, like adding square footage, adding a bathroom, or moving walls to change or improve the layout of the house. Appraisers will then find properties in the neighborhood that are comparable to the property after the planned repairs and improvements are completed. Based on those comparable properties and the differences or similarities to the property in question, the appraiser will then determine the property’s after repaired value.

How to Calculate ARV

The formula that the appraiser will use to calculate ARV is quite simple. They use the purchase price and then they add the added value as previously described.

(Purchase Price) + (Value From Renovations) = After Repair Value

The 70% Rule

The 70% rule is a guideline in the real estate investing business that states no bid price at the beginning of a project should exceed 70% of the ARV minus estimated repair costs.

(ARV x 70%) – Estimated Repairs = Maximum Purchase Target

This is a rule of thumb that real estate investors should follow to make a 30% return on their investment (ROI).

Rehab Financial uses a rule of 70% when it comes to offering a real estate investment loan on any given project. Once RFG receives the ARV from the appraiser, we calculate 70% to determine the maximum that we are willing to lend.

After Repair Value x 70% = Maximum Loan Amount

That is the amount we will lend you towards your purchase and rehab costs. In many cases, this is enough financing to allow our borrowers to arrive at the closing table with zero cash down.

Here’s a basic example of calculating a maximum real estate investment loan amount from ARV: If the ARV determined by the appraiser is $250,000, Rehab Financial will lend you 70% of that, or $162,500.

What is ARV and how is it calculated?