Acquire
Basis & leverage
Purchase price, financing, closing costs and negotiation determine how much margin is available before work begins.
Investment real estate
If the numbers do not work, the deal does not work.
Investment property deserves a different lens: acquisition basis, repair scope, value, rent, holding costs, financing and exit strategy all need to live in the same model.
The underwriting lens
Start with the exit, then work backward.
Improve
Scope & risk
Repair estimates need enough detail to account for condition, permits, surprises, timeline and what the market will actually reward.
Exit
ARV, rent & time
Resale or rental assumptions should be supported by current local evidence, with holding costs and selling expenses included.
Agent + investor perspective
Pretty projections are easy. Realistic assumptions are harder.
The value of the exercise is not getting a spreadsheet to show a profit. It is identifying which assumptions would have to be wrong for the deal to fail.
Questions worth pressure-testing
- What if repairs are 15% higher?
- What if the exit takes 60 days longer?
- What if the ARV is 5% lower?
- What is the financing carrying cost?
- Is there a second viable exit?
Have a property you are underwriting?
Send me the address and what you are trying to do with it.
Market context
The same deal can underwrite differently by location.
Use the North Houston guides to compare new-construction competition, jurisdiction, taxes and property-level tradeoffs before settling on assumptions.