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Max allowable offer calculator for wholesalers (70% rule and full-cost)

Your maximum allowable offer (MAO) is the most you can pay a seller and still leave a buyer their profit and you your fee. This calculator shows the classic 70% rule next to a full-cost version that subtracts each of the buyer's real costs. Free, no sign-up, computed in your browser.

Updated By Parcel Research

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Calculator

Rule percentage: 70%65% slow or heavy rehab, 75% hot market
Change the assumptions

Enter your numbers to see the result. The faded values are an example.

The two formulas

The 70% rule: MAO = ARV × 70% − repairs − your fee. DealMachine's public wholesaling calculator uses the same formula with a 50% to 80% slider (DealMachine); 65% suits slow markets and heavy rehabs, 75% hot ones.

The full-cost method works backward from what a flipper must clear: the ARV minus selling costs (8.0% of ARV), holding over a 161-day flip (the typical flip in ATTOM's Q2 2026 report, ATTOM), loan interest and points, closing costs, repairs and the buyer's profit (12.0% of ARV). What's left is the most a buyer can pay; subtract your fee for your MAO.

Worked example

MAO worked example
70% ruleFull-cost
ARV$300,000$300,000
Repairs$45,000$45,000
Buyer's costs and profitcovered by the 30%$78,028
Buyer's max price$165,000$176,973
Your fee$10,000$10,000
Your MAO$155,000$166,973
Default assumptions: 8% selling, 12% buyer profit, 90% loan-to-cost at 10% with 2 points, 1.6% a year tax and insurance, $250 a month utilities, 1.5% closing.

When the 70% rule misleads

  • On expensive homes, selling costs and profit don't need a full 30%, so the rule can price you out of good deals.
  • On cheap homes, fixed costs (holding, closing, a minimum profit) eat more than 30%, so the rule can overpay.
  • Long holds and expensive money: the rule ignores interest. The full-cost method doesn't.
  • It depends entirely on the ARV and the repairs. Get the ARV from three or more closed comps, and repairs as a range.

Estimates, not an appraisal

The math is exact; the inputs aren't. Use a repair range (repair estimator) and an ARV from closed comps, and check the result against what local buyers actually pay.

Questions

Maximum allowable offer: the most you can pay a seller so that a buyer still makes their profit after every cost and you still earn your assignment fee.

The quick way is ARV × 70% − repairs − your fee. A more exact way subtracts the buyer's selling costs, holding, financing, closing, repairs and profit from the ARV, then your fee.

65% suits slow markets and heavy rehabs, 75% hot markets with competitive buyers. On expensive or very cheap homes, use the full-cost method instead of any fixed percentage.

Sources

  1. 1.Wholesaling calculator (Jul 15, 2026) · DealMachine help · read October 30, 2026
  2. 2.ATTOM Q2 2026 U.S. Home Flipping Report (Oct 1, 2026) · ATTOM · read October 30, 2026

Changes

  • : First published.

Keep reading

Run every deal the same way

Parcel's deal analyzer uses these formulas with your comps, then keeps the numbers on the lead.
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