What ARV means, and how we calculate it in Columbus

The short version

ARV, after repair value, is what a house should sell for once it has been renovated to the standard buyers in that neighborhood expect. It is not what the house is worth today, and it is not what a perfect house on the best street would fetch. It is the realistic finished price on that street, for that size, at that finish level.

Every deal on this site lists an ARV. ARV minus price minus repairs is the spread, and the spread is where your profit and your margin for error both live.

Where our number comes from

We pull renovated sales within roughly a half mile of the house from the last six months, and we match on size, bed and bath count, style, and lot. We throw out sales that were not renovated, sales on a materially better or worse street, and anything that looks like a family transfer. Three to five clean comps usually remain. We take a conservative reading of that group, not the top sale.

In neighborhoods where the renovation wave is still arriving, like parts of the South Side and Linden, we lean on the nearest finished blocks rather than the same street, and we say so on the deal page.

How to check it yourself

Search sold listings in the last six months within a half mile, filter to renovated homes of similar size, and look at the photos. If a comp looks like a builder-grade rental refresh and you are planning a retail finish, adjust up. If the comp has a two car garage and yours has street parking, adjust down. Then look at what is active and pending, because that is your competition when you list.

If you land within about five percent of our number, we are looking at the same houses. If you are more than ten percent off, tell us which comps you used. We would rather fix a number than sell a deal that does not work.

Common mistakes

Using list prices instead of sold prices. Using comps from the other side of a major road that acts as a boundary in that market. Assuming the best sale on the street is the ARV. Forgetting that a house that took 120 days to sell was overpriced for most of that time.

The most expensive mistake is using an ARV to justify a purchase price rather than to test one. Run the numbers as if you are trying to prove the deal does not work. If it survives that, buy it.

Written by Solomon Sparks, Closing Columbus. General information for investors, not legal or financial advice. Talk to an Ohio attorney or your lender about your own situation.