What is a good wholesale spread?
The wholesale spread is the gap between your contract price with the seller and your assignment price to the buyer — your fee. Typical assignment fees run $5,000 to $15,000 on ordinary single-family deals, with $10,000 the most common single figure; larger spreads occur on higher-priced properties and deeply distressed ones. The right test isn't the dollar amount at all: it's whether your buyer still clears their return after paying it.
What fees actually run
| Deal type | Typical fee | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Low-priced single-family (under $120k ARV) | $3,000 – $7,000 | The whole margin is small; the buyer's absolute profit floor binds first |
| Mid-market single-family ($150k–$400k ARV) | $8,000 – $15,000 | The bread-and-butter case, and where $10,000 became the default |
| Higher-priced ($400k+ ARV) | $15,000 – $30,000 | Bigger total margin, but fewer cash buyers and longer to assign |
| Deeply distressed / large discount | $20,000 + | The spread is wide enough to share; the risk of it falling through is too |
| Small multifamily | $10,000 – $40,000 | Buyers underwrite on income, so the fee is tested against yield rather than a flip margin |
Treat these as observed ranges, not entitlements. Every one of them is downstream of the same constraint: what remains for the buyer after your fee.
The fee your buyer's math will bear
Start from the buyer's project and work back. ARV $385,600, repairs $55,000, and a buyer who needs at least 15% of ARV — $57,840 — to take it on:
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| ARV | $385,600 |
| Renovation | −$55,000 |
| Buying, holding and selling costs | −$42,140 |
| Buyer's required profit, 15% of ARV | −$57,840 |
| Most the buyer can pay | $230,620 |
| Your contract price with the seller | −$195,000 |
| Room for your fee | $35,620 |
$35,620 is the ceiling, not the target. Charging all of it leaves the buyer at exactly their threshold, which is the same as leaving them indifferent — and indifferent buyers don't close quickly, if at all. A $15,000 fee here leaves the buyer at 20% of ARV, which is a deal they'll take the same week.
Notice also that this test can come out negative. If the seller wouldn't go below $235,000, there is no fee that works, and no amount of marketing fixes it. That is a useful thing to discover on a spreadsheet rather than on a buyer's list.
See where the fee stops working
Faro underwrites a property at any purchase price and shows the return it produces, so you can find the point where your buyer's margin disappears before they do.
When a wide spread is telling you something
A very large spread feels like the best possible outcome and is often the opposite — an unusually motivated seller sometimes means an unusual problem. Before celebrating a $40,000 fee, rule out:
- An ARV that's too high. The most common explanation by a distance. If your spread is double the local norm, re-comp before you do anything else.
- Repairs you haven't seen. Foundation movement, failed sewer lateral, active roof leak, knob-and-tube wiring, unpermitted additions that have to be removed or legalized. Any one of these can absorb the whole spread.
- Something wrong with the location that a radius search can't see. A neighboring use, a planned road, a flood history, a stigmatized property.
- Title or occupancy. An heir who hasn't signed, a lien nobody mentioned, a tenant with eleven months left on a lease.
- A seller who won't actually close. Distress and inability to complete a sale correlate, and a contract with someone who can't sign is worth nothing however good the price.
None of these means walk away. They mean spend the extra hour before you commit — which is precisely what a wide spread is buying you the room to do.
Next
How much should a wholesaler offer covers the number on the seller's side. How to analyze a wholesale deal runs both sides end to end. And every figure here rests on the ARV — ARV for wholesaling covers estimating it when you can't get inside.
Common questions
What is a typical wholesale assignment fee?
$5,000–$15,000 covers most single-family assignments, and $10,000 is the figure quoted more than any other. It scales with the deal's total margin rather than with the sale price alone: a $90,000 house with a huge discount can support a bigger fee than a $400,000 house bought at a fair price.
Can a wholesale fee be too big?
Yes, and the ceiling is arithmetic, not etiquette. Every dollar of fee is a dollar off your buyer's profit. Once their return falls below the threshold they underwrite to, the assignment simply doesn't sell — and it doesn't matter that the fee looked reasonable to you.
Should I disclose my fee?
Practice varies, but the direction of travel is toward more disclosure: several states have added disclosure or licensing requirements for wholesaling in recent years, and a double closing exists partly to keep the fee off the buyer's settlement statement. Check the current rules in your state rather than relying on how it worked when you started.
Is a $3,000 spread worth doing?
Sometimes — on a fast, clean assignment to a buyer you already work with, and especially early on when the relationship is worth more than the fee. What isn't worth doing is a $3,000 fee on a deal that took six weeks, needed three price renegotiations and a title fix. Judge the fee against the work, not against the deal size.
Related guides and calculators
How much should a wholesaler offer?
Working backwards from your buyer's ceiling to a number you can actually sign.
How to calculate MAO
The maximum allowable offer formula, both versions, and how to pick the percentage honestly.
How to analyze a wholesale deal
End-to-end on one property, including the buyer's-side check most wholesalers never run.
ARV for wholesaling
Estimating ARV sight-unseen, and why the number your cash buyer will accept is lower than the one you want.
Price the fee against the buyer's math.
Faro shows the returns a property produces at any purchase price, so you can see exactly where your fee stops working.
Estimates for analysis and educational use only — not financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. Verify every number independently before making a purchase decision.