I'm a very conservative investor and may look hundreds of deals a year, and at the end of the year only invest in 4-5.

Traditional financing is just too slow for most flips right now.Private lenders who maintain conservative underwriting are still funding strong deals without much slowdown.

It shows you understand landlord responsibilities.Be Prepared for Adjustments: The lender will likely use the more conservative "whole-property" rent number for their final DSCR calculation.

We have originated many in the past, and if you use conservative underwriting characteristics, even if they default, you are still protected

There’s a lot of noise out there, and your post cuts straight through it.believe it or not I am asset rich and income light but it is because 1) I Believe in RE leverage so my cash flow is minimized 2) I am “retired” meaning I have no w2 job, my job is managing our assets.I am still in the hunt for a good RE investment but I am being very selective and most would consider my underwriting conservative (I hope it is conservative but do not think it is very conservative).  

We’re prioritizing recession-resilient assets.. properties with stable cash flow, conservative leverage, and operators who have strong local expertise. 

Since we want to be conservative with our underwriting, we found the county’s Property Tax Estimator tool: https://cuyahogacounty.gov/fiscal-officer/departments/budget...Our current thought process:-Look up the correct tax district and current value from county records-Enter the property’s purchase price as the new market value in the estimator-Use the 2026 estimated tax amount for deal analysis, since that’s likely closer to where taxes will eventually adjustFor those of you investing in Cleveland:-Does this approach make sense?

Focus on analyzing deals carefully, running numbers conservatively, and learning from smaller rehabs or rentals before scaling up.

In short: $558k gross, ~9% cap, modeled cash-flow of ~$92k/yr with professional management (or ~$140k if self-managed), and conservative 5-yr after-tax proceeds of ~$1.4M.I’m sharing the math, assumptions, depreciation treatment, and the risks/opportunities I saw (value-add ideas, occupancy sensitivity, and market comps).

In short: $558k gross, ~9% cap, modeled cash-flow of ~$92k/yr with professional management (or ~$140k if self-managed), and conservative 5-yr after-tax proceeds of ~$1.4M.I’m sharing the math, assumptions, depreciation treatment, and the risks/opportunities I saw (value-add ideas, occupancy sensitivity, and market comps).