Wholesale deal calculator: your maximum allowable offer
Put in the after-repair value, the repairs and your fee, and see the most you can offer a seller and still leave your buyer a deal. Free, no signup, nothing saved.
- ✓Uses the 70% rule by default, adjustable for hotter markets
- ✓Shows your offer, your buyer's ceiling and the room left for profit
- ✓Flags the deals where the numbers don't work at all
A starting point, not an appraisal. Your buyers' real numbers decide the deal.
How the 70% rule works
A fix-and-flip buyer wants to pay no more than about 70% of what the house will sell for after repairs, minus the repairs. The 30% gap covers their closing, holding and selling costs and leaves them a profit. As a wholesaler you sit in front of that buyer, so your offer to the seller has to come in under their number by at least your assignment fee.
On a $250,000 ARV with $40,000 of work, the buyer tops out near $135,000. Take a $10,000 fee off that and your offer is $125,000. If the seller needs more than that, the deal doesn't work as a wholesale, however much you like the house.
Where the numbers usually go wrong
ARV is the number people stretch. Use sold comps from the last six months, close to the house and similar in size and age, not list prices. Repairs are the other one. In Florida, roof age matters more than almost anything: insurers often won't write a policy on an old roof, and buyers price that in. A tarp in an aerial photo, an open code case or a stalled roof permit tells you to budget for a roof before you ever walk the property.
Check the title side too. An open code enforcement lien can add thousands to what has to be paid at closing, and a property on a tax deed sale list has a hard deadline.
Finding deals worth running
The calculator only helps once you have a property to run. PropTalon finds Florida properties with open code cases, liens, stalled permits and tax deed sales, scores them by how many signals stack up, and puts the owner's number one click away with built-in skip tracing.
Questions
What is MAO in wholesaling?
MAO is your maximum allowable offer: the most you can pay a seller and still assign the contract to a buyer at a price that works for them, with your fee on top. The usual formula is ARV times 70%, minus repairs, minus your fee.
Is 70% always the right percentage?
No. It's a starting rule. Buyers in competitive markets often go to 75 or 80% on cheaper houses with light repairs, and down to 65% on heavy rehabs. Ask your buyers what they actually pay and use their number.
What if the seller wants more than my MAO?
Then it isn't a wholesale deal at that price. You can lower your fee, find a buyer with a higher number, or pass. Overpaying and hoping a buyer appears is how contracts fall apart.
Keep reading: the Florida tax certificate redemption calculator, how Florida tax deed sales work and Florida leads by county.