Pre-contract due diligence on Multi-family rental

[Jeff Melvin]

Hello everyone. What a great resource this site/forum is!

I'd like someone to share their scope of due diligence performed prior to making an offer. I believe I understand the comprehensive due diligence performed once a contract is signed, but what do you look for before? I'd like to minimize the waste of my time and money by backing out of deals that don't pan out because of issues that come to light during the comprehensive due diligence process. Do you just calculate the fundamentals based on the loose and incomplete pro forma numbers provided in the listing? What is reasonable to ask for up front?

Thank you in advance!

Jeff