In this playbook
- How to price a finished flip and know your bottom line.
- What you'll actually net after selling costs and the loan payoff.
- How to compare selling now with refinancing and renting.
Playbook: a practical guide to one stage of a flip, with the tools to use along the way.
When the work is done, you have two main choices: sell the house or keep it as a rental. Each has its own math. This playbook covers both.
Step 1: Know your floor
Before you list, calculate the lowest price you can accept without losing money. The Break-Even Sale Price calculator adds everything you've spent and solves for the price that covers it after selling costs.
Step 2: Price to sell
Price the house against the same kind of comparable sales you used for the after-repair value, updated for anything that has sold since. Overpricing costs time, and time costs money. The Holding Cost Timer shows what each extra month on the market costs.
Step 3: Know your net
Commissions, closing costs, credits to the buyer and the loan payoff all come out of the sale price. The Seller Net Sheet shows what you'll walk away with, and what share of the price went to selling costs. Then set money aside for taxes: the Capital Gains Estimate gives a rough figure. It's not tax advice, so confirm it with a CPA.
Step 4: Consider holding
Some investors keep the finished house as a rental and refinance into a long-term loan. This is sometimes called the BRRRR method: buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat. It can build long-term wealth, but it ties up cash and depends on rent covering the payment.
- The DSCR Refinance Sizer shows how large a loan the rent will support and how much of your cash stays in the property.
- Flip vs. Rent compares selling now with holding for several years, including cash flow, loan paydown and appreciation.
Step 5: Test the assumptions
Rental math is sensitive to rates, rent and appreciation. Run the comparison with flat prices and a rate a half point higher than today's. If holding only works with optimistic assumptions, selling may be the better choice.
Tools for this stage
- Break-Even Sale Price: your floor
- Seller Net Sheet: what you'll walk away with
- DSCR Refinance Sizer: what the rent supports
- Flip vs. Rent: sell now or hold
- Capital Gains Estimate: a rough tax figure