How to read a fix-and-flip project
A flip is a budget with a deadline attached. Cash goes out for the purchase, the work, every month you hold the place, and the sale itself. What's left when it closes is your profit. Raising the resale number here is easy; the one that counts is what a buyer signs for.
Build the whole cost, not just the rehab bid
Start with an after-repair value your comps can back up. Price the scope with labor, materials, permits, and a contingency you hope you don't need. Then add financing, taxes, insurance, utilities, buying closing costs, and selling costs for every month you expect to own it. Watch for the same expense landing twice, in the contractor's bid and again in a line of your own.
Read the ROI with the calendar beside it
ROI here sets project profit against total investment, so it's a return on this project, not a yearly rate. The monthly figure spreads that percentage across your holding period, a pace rather than a compounding yield. Income taxes and anything the fields don't capture still come off what you keep.
Screen with the 70% rule, then do the real math
The rule takes 70% of ARV, subtracts repairs, and suggests what you could pay. Everything left has to absorb the other costs and still leave you a profit. It's a screen, not a ceiling, a market price, or a sign a buyer is waiting. Build the real budget before you name an offer.
Then push on it. Cut the resale price. Add repairs you didn't plan for. Give it a few more months on the market. Check how much cash you need at each stage, not only the profit at the end. If renting it out is your fallback, model that in the rental calculator with the rent and refinance terms you can get.
Know the price you'd walk away at, and you can bid on the next one without flinching.