How to estimate Rehab cost & ARV?

[Dennis Soto]

A few years back I made a couple of good real estate investments that have given me the flexibility to access cash and build my portfolio with some other investments. I've been reading, researching, and listening to podcast, trying to get as informed as possible. I've been running the numbers on properties, but always hit a wall in the same area.

The last thing I want is to waste a contractor or a realtors time so I am looking for an efficient way to vet these properties to only call upon the contractor and/or realtor for actual possibilities.

Question: Is there a way to estimate the Rehab cost and what the ARV will be without a contractor walking the property or a realtor running comps? I know I won't be able to estimate a true figure but what can I do to get a ballpark number.