Flip analysis
Flip Profit Calculator
The 70% rule screens a deal; this is the full accounting. Every cost of the flip — purchase, rehab, closing, holding, selling — lined up against the expected sale price, with the projected profit and return worked step by step.
26.2% return on the $221,000 total cost · 19.3% of the sale price
Informational only, not professional advice. This projects pre-tax profit from your own estimates — it doesn't know your market, your financing terms, or your tax situation.
Methodology
Flip profit is what remains of the sale price after every cost of the deal — the cost categories are the standard ones for a flip: acquisition, rehab, holding (carrying) costs, and selling costs (Rocket Mortgage: How to flip a house). The calculation:
- Total project cost = purchase price + repair costs + closing costs at purchase + holding costs
- Selling costs = sale price × agent commission % + other selling costs
- Net sale proceeds = sale price − selling costs
- Projected profit = net sale proceeds − total project cost
- Return on cost = profit ÷ total project cost; margin = profit ÷ sale price
Holding costs — loan interest, taxes, insurance, utilities for every month you own the property — are the cost flippers most often underestimate; a prudent plan budgets up to six months of them (Rocket Mortgage: What are carrying costs?).
Assumptions and limitations
- Every input is your estimate, and the profit inherits every error — an optimistic ARV or a light rehab budget flows straight through to the result.
- Financing isn't modeled separately: fold loan interest, points, and fees into holding costs. The return shown is on total project cost, not on the cash you personally invested.
- Profit shown is pre-tax. Short flips are typically taxed as ordinary income, not long-term capital gains, and dealer treatment can add self-employment tax.
- The agent commission default is an editable assumption — commissions are negotiable and vary; 5–6% total is typical but not guaranteed.
Last reviewed: July 2026
Frequently asked questions
What profit margin do house flippers target?
Practices vary, but many flippers screen for a profit of at least 10–20% of the sale price, or a fixed minimum dollar amount below which the risk isn't worth the work. The right target depends on price point — 10% of a $600,000 flip and 10% of a $120,000 flip are very different paydays for similar effort — and on how much certainty you have in the rehab budget and ARV. Whatever your target, set it before you offer, not after the numbers come in.
How do I estimate holding costs?
Add up the monthly cost of owning the property — loan interest and points, property taxes, insurance, utilities, and any HOA dues — and multiply by a realistic number of months from closing to resale. A prudent plan budgets for up to six months even if you expect to sell faster, because rehab overruns and slow markets both extend the clock, and every extra month comes straight out of profit.
Does this calculator account for financing?
Not separately — it treats the deal on a total-cost basis. If you're financing the flip, put the loan's interest, points, and fees into holding costs, and the ROI shown is the return on the project's total cost. Your return on the cash you personally put in (the levered return) will be higher when the deal wins and more sharply negative when it loses; computing that requires modeling the specific loan.
Is flip profit taxed as capital gains?
Usually not at the favorable long-term rate. Property flipped within a year produces short-term gains taxed as ordinary income, and the IRS may treat active flippers as dealers, making profits business income potentially subject to self-employment tax as well. This calculator shows pre-tax profit only — what you keep depends on your situation, so talk to a tax professional before counting the proceeds.
Related tools
After-repair value from comparable sales — each comp's price per square foot, averaged and applied to your square footage, with every step shown.
Open tool →Rehab Cost EstimatorBuild a flip's repair budget the honest way — a line-item takeoff of the scope of work by category plus a contingency, producing the repair-costs figure the 70% rule and flip profit tools ask for.
Open tool →70% Rule CalculatorThe flipper's maximum offer — after-repair value × 70% minus repair costs — with the rule percentage yours to adjust for your market.
Open tool →Mortgage Payment CalculatorMonthly principal & interest from price, rate, and term — plus taxes, insurance, and HOA — with the amortization formula shown.
Open tool →