Wholesaling Calculator

A wholesaling calculator works backward from the after-repair value to the most you can put a property under contract for. The end buyer’s ceiling is ARV × 70% minus repairs; subtract your assignment fee and you have your maximum contract price. Enter three numbers below and both ceilings, plus the end buyer’s gross margin before costs, appear instantly and free.

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A wholesale deal only closes when the numbers work for three people: the seller, you, and the cash buyer taking the flip. This calculator keeps all three visible at once, so you can see whether a deal has room for your fee before you make an offer.

How the wholesaling math works, from the buyer backward

The maximum allowable offer is ARV times 70% minus repair costs, and that 30% gap is the end buyer’s costs and profit. Your assignment fee has to fit under that ceiling, so the seller contract must sit below it by at least the fee.

Everything starts with the end buyer, because they bring the cash that closes the deal. A disciplined flipper pays at most a percentage of the after-repair value, minus repairs; 70% is the standard screen, which is why it is called the 70% rule. That number is the ceiling for the whole transaction.

Your assignment fee has to fit under it, which means your contract with the seller has to sit below the ceiling by at least the size of your fee.

Two of the three inputs are estimates, and both belong to someone else’s reality: the ARV comes from comparable sales and the repair budget comes from a contractor-grade walkthrough. If either is optimistic, the error lands on your buyer, and buyers who get burned do not come back. Build the repair number with the rehab cost estimator, contingency included, before you quote a deal to anyone.

What is a reasonable assignment fee?

There is no fixed market rate: fees run from a few thousand on a thin deal to five figures on a deep discount. What matters is that the buyer’s margin survives the fee, because a fee that eats into it gets renegotiated or kills the deal.

An assignment fee is the difference between your contract price and what the end buyer pays. There is no fixed market rate: on thin deals it can be a few thousand dollars, and on deep-discount contracts five figures is common. The math above treats it plainly, as a wedge between the two prices.

What matters is that the buyer’s margin stays intact after your fee; a fee that eats into it gets renegotiated at the closing table or kills the deal.

Wholesaling vs flipping vs holding the deal yourself

Decide by the size of the spread and the strength of the rent: assign it, flip it, or keep it. The other calculators price each of those paths on the same property.

The same three inputs answer a bigger question: who should end up with this property? If the spread is thin as an assignment but the property rents strongly, running it through the house hacking calculator or the BRRRR calculator sometimes shows the deal is worth keeping instead of assigning.

If the spread is wide and you have the capital, the fix and flip calculator shows what the full flip profit would be against the fee you would collect for assigning it.

Frequently asked questions

What is a wholesaling calculator?

A wholesaling calculator is a deal-screening tool that computes the maximum allowable offer for an end cash buyer (after-repair value times a margin rule, minus repairs) and then subtracts the wholesaler’s assignment fee to find the most the wholesaler can pay the seller under contract.

What is the maximum allowable offer (MAO) formula?

The maximum allowable offer is defined as ARV × 70% − repair costs. The 30% gap covers the end buyer’s selling costs, holding costs, financing, and profit. A wholesaler’s own ceiling is that MAO minus their assignment fee, because the buyer’s ceiling includes everything the buyer pays.

Is wholesaling real estate legal?

Wholesaling is legal in most US states when it is done as assigning your own contract, but several states now require disclosure, limit repeated unlicensed wholesaling, or require a license to market properties you do not own. State rules changed in the mid-2020s, so check your state’s current requirements before marketing a contract.

Want this calculator on your own site? Many VanToVault tools have a free copy-paste embed version on the embed calculators page.

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<p>Powered by <a href="https://vantovault.com/tools/wholesaling-calculator/">Wholesaling Calculator</a> from Van to Vault</p>

Estimate only. This is a planning tool, not a quote, an appraisal, or financial advice. Every result reflects the figures you enter, so change an input and the answer changes. Confirm the numbers with a lender, an agent, or your own research before you act on them.