Fix & Flip: Project Profit and Cash Return
Model a resale project with explicit acquisition costs, carrying costs and purchase-only financing.
What This Calculator Does
Estimate nominal profit before taxes for a purchase, renovation and resale project. The model includes cash-paid acquisition costs, a constant purchase-only loan, carrying costs and sale costs. It reports return on total project capital separately from return on your own cash, and keeps any cash shortfall at sale visible.
Who Is This For
Investors, real-estate agents and clients evaluating a specific Florida resale scenario with their own cost estimates and financing quotes. It is not a verified valuation, lender decision, tax calculation or complete cash-management plan.
How It Works
Fill in all eight figures: purchase price, expected resale value after repairs, rehab budget, monthly holding costs, whole months held, selling costs as a percentage, purchase costs paid in cash and the purchase loan amount. Enter 0 for a cost you don't have or for the loan if you pay cash. Include quoted interest in the monthly holding costs once; leave out principal repayments. Tick the confirmation, compare both returns and check the cash from the sale (+ or −). Check your quotes and recalculate when an assumption changes.
Frequently Asked Questions
What costs are included in project profit?
Profit is expected resale value minus purchase, rehab, cash-paid acquisition costs, monthly carry times the holding period, and sale costs. Acquisition costs are nonrefundable cash payments net of usable credits, not refundable escrow, idle reserves or costs repeated elsewhere. Monthly carry can include quoted interest, property taxes, insurance, utilities and other recurring project costs. Sale costs apply once to the entered resale value. All eight inputs require explicit values; a blank cost is not silently treated as zero.
How do project ROI and own-cash ROI differ?
Project ROI divides the same profit (before tax) by purchase + rehab + purchase costs + all holding costs. Your-cash ROI uses that same total minus the purchase loan. Selling costs reduce profit but aren't part of those totals, because they are paid from the sale. Cash from the sale − your own cash = profit. If you put in no cash of your own, there's no ROI to show (not 0% and not unlimited). Neither return is a yearly rate or an IRR.
What financing does the calculator support?
Only a purchase loan from 0 to the purchase price whose principal stays constant and is repaid once at resale. Its quoted interest must already be in monthly carry. Loan repayment reduces sale cash, not profit a second time. Rehab, acquisition and carry are otherwise cash-paid. Amortization, extra draws, financed fees, construction lending and changing financing terms are not supported. Obtain the actual dated lender payoff separately; this projection is not that quote.
Can the result show a total loss or money due at sale?
Yes. ARV can be 0 to test a total loss; it's a test value, not a forecast or verified value. Negative profit and negative cash from the sale stay visible. Negative sale cash means you'd need to add money to pay selling costs and the purchase loan; it isn't cut off at zero. Losses can be larger than the cash you put in, so your-cash ROI can be below −100%. Taxes on profit, refunds and the actual cash needed at closing are not calculated.
Does the 70% rule give a safe maximum offer?
No. It's a quick rule of thumb: 70% of your ARV minus rehab, never below 0, rounded down to the cent. It doesn't separately subtract purchase, holding or selling costs. It isn't proof of profit, a legal offer limit, a verified appraisal or loan approval. The full cost breakdown and quotes for the property still matter even when an offer is below this figure.
How are months, cents and estimates handled?
The holding period is 1–36 whole months; 2.0 means 2, not 20, and fractions are rejected. Each amount can be up to $2 billion; selling costs can be 0%–30% with up to four decimals, a form limit rather than a market rate. Selling costs are rounded once to the cent, and the totals add up those cent amounts. The 70% offer is rounded down. Results above $100 billion can't be shown; this is a calculator limit, not a lending rule. Check the cost, resale and payoff quotes; taxes and the lender's payoff statement are not calculated here.