What is ARV and how should I use it?

ARV (after repair value) is the estimated resale value of a property once a defined scope of repairs is complete. Investors use ARV to cap purchase price (via MAO rules), size profit on a flip, and plan BRRRR refinances - always tied to supportable comps, not wishful pricing.

What ARV represents

ARV answers: "What should this home be worth in finished condition relative to similar sold homes?" It is not list price, tax assessment, or automated value alone. It is a forward-looking appraisal-style anchor based on renovated comparables.

How investors use ARV in practice

• Offer discipline: Many investors work backward from ARV and rehab to a maximum purchase price so margin stays intact.
• Profit planning: Expected profit ties to ARV minus all-in cost (purchase, carry, rehab, sale).
• Refinance modeling: For BRRRR, expected ARV feeds LTV assumptions on the refinance leg - conservative ARV reduces refinance risk.

Common mistakes with ARV

• Anchoring ARV on a single too optimistic comp. ARV should reflect recent comparable sales of single-family homes with similar bed / bath / square-footage and in the same condition - DealScanner's model already weights these together along with location and market trends. Trusting one high outlier inflates the headline and shrinks real margin.
• Pulling comps from a better neighborhood or block. A sale two streets over in a higher-tier school catchment or a tighter sub-market is not your comp. Stay inside the same micro-market the appraiser will use.
• Mixing condition tiers. A fully renovated A-class comp does not support your B-class rental-grade scope, and a fixer comp does not support your post-rehab ARV. Condition has to match what the property will be when it sells or refinances.
• Ignoring needed structural work. If the comp had no foundation or sewer issues and your subject does, the comp is too high until you discount for the work the buyer/appraiser will see.
• Treating ARV as a single number. In Allegheny County, street-level and block-level variance is real - underwrite a range (P25 / median / P75 of comps) and stress-test the deal against the median, not the top of the range.
• Re-pricing ARV to make the deal pencil. If the only way the offer works is by raising ARV $10k, the deal does not work - your model just got loose.

See ARV on any active listing

DealScanner analyzes individual single-family listings in Allegheny County with strategy-specific outputs so you can compare flip, rental, and BRRRR views on the same home.