Key takeaways
70% is a ceiling. The rule caps an investor’s price at 70% of after-repair value, minus repairs.
Few buyers show their math. Most publish no formula. Those that do subtract repairs, resale costs and profit.
Compare net to net. In our nine-state examples, cash netted about 69% to 72% of listing as-is.
What the 70% rule is
The 70% rule is a screening formula investors use to cap what they pay. It is not a law and not a measured offer.
Kiavi, a lender to house flippers, describes it as a formula that caps a property’s maximum purchase price at 70% of its after-repair value minus estimated renovation costs. The 30% left over covers financing, holding costs, selling fees and profit.1
Maximum offer = (after-repair value × 0.70) − repairs
After-repair value is what the house would sell for once fixed up, not what it is worth today.
It is not 70% of your home’s value
The rule starts from the after-repair value and then subtracts repairs. On a house that needs work, the result can be well under 70% of what the house is worth today.
What investors say they pay
In a lender-run survey of flippers in early 2026, the national average they said they would pay was about 67% of after-repair value, and 37% said they would pay 60% or less.1 That is a survey of what investors say they are willing to pay, not a record of offers made to sellers.
Why real offers vary
Repairs are the biggest swing. ATTOM’s flipping report says rehab typically runs 20% to 33% of after-repair value, by veteran flippers’ estimates.2
Time costs money. The typical home flipped in the second quarter of 2026 took 161 days from purchase to resale.2
Margins are shrinking. ATTOM puts the typical gross profit margin on a flip, before rehab costs, at 21.5% in the second quarter of 2026, down from 27.6% a year earlier.2 A buyer with less room for profit has less room to raise an offer, so it may have less room to negotiate.
Resale costs come out too. Several buyers on our state pages put their own selling costs at about 10% of after-repair value.
What real buyers publish
Most buyers on our lists publish no formula at all. These are the ones that do, in their own words. Each is that company’s claim, not a guarantee.
Ask for the math in writing
A buyer that shows its after-repair value, repair estimate, costs and profit gives you something to check. A buyer that will only say a number gives you nothing to test.
Percentages you see on ranking sites for named companies are often the site’s own estimates. We do not repeat a percentage unless the company published it.
iBuyers price differently
Instant-offer companies price from the home’s estimated market value and then deduct a service charge and repairs. Opendoor says the service charge varies, is shown in your offer breakdown, and that it does not publish a fixed percentage.3
Opendoor estimates the repair cost and deducts it from your offer as a condition adjustment.4
In 2022 the FTC ordered Opendoor to pay $62 million and barred unsupported claims about how much sellers would receive. The FTC alleged that most people who sold to Opendoor made thousands of dollars less than they would have on the open market.5
Cash vs. listing as-is, net to net
The fair comparison is what you keep, not the headline price. We ran the same worked example on each of our state pages.
Each example takes a benchmark median for the state (for Nevada, the Las Vegas single-family median) as the after-repair value and assumes $40,000 of repairs. The cash path uses the 70% rule. Listing as-is sells at the median minus repairs and pays commission. Every path pays transfer tax where one applies, plus monthly taxes and insurance while you wait, a $1,000 attorney fee in New York and Massachusetts, and a smoke certificate in Massachusetts.
Across the nine states, the cash path netted about 69% to 72% of listing as-is, a gap of $72,000 in Missouri to $224,700 in California. In exchange, the cash sale closes in about a month instead of three or four.
These are illustrations
A median mixes renovated and unrenovated homes, so it is a rough stand-in for after-repair value. The $40,000 repair bill is our assumption. Your house, your repairs and your timeline will give different numbers. Each state page shows the full breakdown and what it leaves out.
How common are cash sales?
Cash buyers made 31.4% of US home purchases in January to April 2026, down from 32.3% a year earlier, according to a Realtor.com analysis of deed records.6
Missouri, at 42.0%, and Florida, at 41.3%, were among the five states with the highest cash shares.6 A cash purchase in that count can be any buyer paying without a mortgage, not only investors.
See what verified buyers would offer.
Compare cash offers side by side, then check them against listing.
Common questions
A screening formula investors use: pay no more than 70% of the home’s after-repair value, minus repairs. On a $300,000 after-repair value with $40,000 of repairs, that is $170,000.
Sources
- Kiavi — What is the 70% rule in house flipping? (Accessed October 26, 2026)return
- ATTOM — Q2 2026 U.S. Home Flipping Report (Accessed October 26, 2026)return
- Opendoor — Service charge (Help Center) (Accessed October 26, 2026)return
- Opendoor — Condition adjustment (Help Center) (Accessed October 26, 2026)return
- Federal Trade Commission — FTC approves final order against Opendoor Labs (October 2022) (Accessed October 26, 2026)return
- Realtor.com — Cash buyers pull back faster than housing market (August 18, 2026) (Accessed October 26, 2026)return
