The 3 numbers I check before spending a single hour on a deal

The 3 numbers I check before spending a single hour on a deal

Member since 2026 · 32 posts · 31 votes

I've been refining how I screen deals over the past couple years, and honestly the biggest improvement to my process wasn't adding more analysis — it was ruthlessly cutting it down. Before I spend a single hour pulling comps or calling agents, I check three numbers on every deal. First is price-to-rent ratio. If the monthly rent divided by purchase price is below 0.6%, I'm out immediately in today's rate environment. That used to be the classic 1% rule but I've found 0.6% is the realistic floor where cash flow can still work with 7%+ debt. Second is the insurance-to-rent ratio. I want insurance under 15% of gross rent — anything higher and you're bleeding before you even factor in vacancy or maintenance. I got burned on this once with a coastal property where insurance ate 22% of gross rent, and the deal that looked solid on paper turned negative fast. Third, I look at the spread between cap rate and my cost of debt. If there's no positive spread at all, I need a very compelling value-add story or I walk. Negative leverage kills deals slowly and quietly. This quick filter eliminates probably 80% of what hits my inbox before I waste time on deep analysis. Curious what other people's "first-pass" filters look like — do you have a quick screen you run before diving into full underwriting?

2Reply
79 views

2 Replies

Jump to latestLatest
  • Jaycee GreenePro Member
    Real Estate Consultant · St. Louis MSA · Member since 2024 · 3k+ posts · 727 votes
    6mo
    Quote from @Alex Rastorgouev:

    I've been refining how I screen deals over the past couple years, and honestly the biggest improvement to my process wasn't adding more analysis — it was ruthlessly cutting it down. Before I spend a single hour pulling comps or calling agents, I check three numbers on every deal. First is price-to-rent ratio. If the monthly rent divided by purchase price is below 0.6%, I'm out immediately in today's rate environment. That used to be the classic 1% rule but I've found 0.6% is the realistic floor where cash flow can still work with 7%+ debt. Second is the insurance-to-rent ratio. I want insurance under 15% of gross rent — anything higher and you're bleeding before you even factor in vacancy or maintenance. I got burned on this once with a coastal property where insurance ate 22% of gross rent, and the deal that looked solid on paper turned negative fast. Third, I look at the spread between cap rate and my cost of debt. If there's no positive spread at all, I need a very compelling value-add story or I walk. Negative leverage kills deals slowly and quietly. This quick filter eliminates probably 80% of what hits my inbox before I waste time on deep analysis. Curious what other people's "first-pass" filters look like — do you have a quick screen you run before diving into full underwriting?

     @Alex Rastorgouev What are the minimum asking prices and cap rates you're reviewing with this process? A 7% cap rate on a $1M purchase price?

  • New to Real Estate · Orange County, CA · Member since 2026 · 40 posts · 28 votes
    6mo

    Love this framework. I use a similar rent-to-price filter as my first gate, in SoCal I've found anything below 0.4% is a hard pass and above 0.5% is worth a deeper look. That alone kills most of what's on Zillow in OC and LA...

    The insurance ratio is a great one I haven't explicitly tracked as a standalone filter. Going to start paying closer attention to that.

    Where my process picks up is after something passes the quick screen. That's when I run the full model: 10-year IRR, break-even sensitivity on price/rate/rent, and multiple appreciation scenarios. Because in higher-priced markets especially, a deal can pass the first-pass filters and still fall apart when you stress-test it, or fail the quick screen on cash flow but actually look compelling on a 10-year hold.

    The quick filter + deep dive combo is the move though. No point modeling a deal for an hour that you could've killed in 30 seconds.

Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.