Maximum offer calculator (UK MAO)
The most you can offer a seller and still leave your end buyer the return they need — worked backwards from the finished value, not from the American 70% rule.
You can offer up to £101,600 — that is 51% of what it is worth done up, after a buyer's 20% return, the refurbishment, stamp duty and the costs of buying. Your £5,000 fee is already taken out.
Value once refurbishedYOU | £200,000 |
Buyer's profitASM 20% of the finished value | −£40,000 |
RefurbishmentYOU | −£35,000 |
Selling costsASM | −£5,000 |
Holding costsASM 6 months | −£4,800 |
Stamp dutyVER | −£5,333 |
Legal and surveyASM | −£3,200 |
Most a buyer could payEST | £106,667 |
Your feeYOU | −£5,000 |
Maximum offerEST 51% of the finished value | £101,600 |
- End buyer wants 20% profit on the finished value.
- Selling costs 2.5% of resale value.
- Acquisition costs 3.0% plus transfer tax.
- Held for 6 months.
- Offers rounded down to the nearest £100.
This is one sum out of a whole deal
Inside the app the same engines run against real HM Land Registry sold prices, rank your buyers against the deal, and tell you what to do next — with the workings attached to every figure, exactly as they are here.
The demo runs on invented deals and real postcodes. No account, nothing saved.
Questions
Why not the 70% rule?
Because it is American. The 70% rule bakes in American transaction costs and a stamp duty that does not exist there. This solves the question the buyer is actually asking — what is the most I can pay and still make my return — and the percentage falls out of the answer rather than being assumed at the start.
What does 'buyer's required return' mean?
The profit your end buyer wants for doing the project, as a share of the finished value. If you set it too low, your deal will not sell however good the paperwork is.
It says no offer works. Have I done something wrong?
Probably not. Once the buyer's profit, the refurbishment and the cost of buying come out, most properties leave nothing for a fee. That is the normal result, and a tool that hid it would cost you money.
Next
What your fee actually is once the seller negotiates — and the point at which there is nothing left in the deal for you.
Stamp Duty Land Tax on a purchase in England or Northern Ireland, band by band, including the additional-property surcharge.
A starting figure for a refurbishment from floor area and condition — for triage, not for offers you cannot walk back.