LTV vs. LTC vs. ARV: The Three Numbers That Size Every Investor Loan

Published October 2026 · By the SLA Capital team

Every investor loan you'll ever get is sized by one of three ratios — and half the confusion in private lending comes from mixing them up. LTV measures the loan against what the property is worth. LTC measures it against what you're spending. ARV is what it'll be worth when the work is done. Here's each one in plain terms, one worked deal that shows all three at once, and the rule that resolves every conflict: the lowest cap wins.

LTV — the stabilized-property number

Loan-to-value = loan ÷ current appraised value. This is the ratio for properties that are done and renting: DSCR loans go to 80% LTV on purchases and 75% on cash-out refinances. A $400K appraisal supports up to a $320K purchase loan or a $300K cash-out. LTV is also the number that returns your BRRRR cash: the refinance is sized off the new value, not your old cost — which is the entire point of forcing appreciation.

LTC — the project number

Loan-to-cost = loan ÷ total project cost (purchase + rehab budget). This is how renovation loans are sized, because mid-project there is no stabilized value yet — the lender funds a share of what you're spending, and you bring the rest. At SLA, fix & flip loans reach up to 92.5% LTC for premier repeat borrowers; first-timers start around 85% (what that means in cash). Ground-up has its own flavor: up to 85% of land cost plus 85% of construction cost.

ARV — the ceiling over everything

After-repair value is the appraiser's supported opinion of the finished property's worth, and renovation loans are capped at 65–75% of it. The ARV cap is the margin-of-error check: it guarantees the loan stays well inside the finished value, so a surprise mid-project still leaves room to exit whole. How appraisers and lenders actually arrive at the number — comps, the scope of work, the pitfalls — is covered in our ARV deep-dive.

One deal, all three numbers

Buy at $200K, rehab budget $50K, supported ARV $320K:

• LTC check: 85% of $250K total cost = $212,500.
• ARV check: 70% of $320K = $224,000.
• The loan: $212,500 — the lower number wins, so LTC binds and the deal is comfortably inside the ARV ceiling. Healthy.

Now same deal, but the ARV only supports $290K: 70% is $203,000 — the ARV cap now binds, trimming the loan below the LTC figure. That's not the lender being difficult; that's the math telling you the margin is thin. When the ARV cap is what's limiting you, re-examine the deal before you argue with the cap.

And after the flip-turned-hold is stabilized? The refinance ignores LTC entirely — the DSCR exit is sized at 75% LTV of the new appraised value, which is how the three numbers hand off across a project's life: LTC funds the work, ARV protects the margin, LTV finances the hold.

Reading your term sheet

A good quote tells you which number is binding and shows the others. Ours do — loan amount, the LTC and ARV tests side by side on renovation deals, the LTV and DSCR ratio on rentals — so the conversation is about the deal, not about decoding acronyms. Current limits for every program live on the rate sheet.