You found a deal. On paper it works. But something is nagging at you and you cannot quite name it.
That feeling is usually right, and it is usually one of a few blind spots. The same ones, over and over.
This is the Deal Filter written out as questions. Three checks, broken into the ones I actually ask before I decide anything about a property.
The Price Check. What is the asking price telling you?
The Terms Check. What do the terms and conditions open up?
The Position Check. How does this deal fit your position right now: your cash, your credit, your time?
Run all three and the deal tells you your options.
Some of the questions are uncomfortable. That is on purpose. It is built to help you slow down and test a deal, not to talk you out of it.
What’s inside
Six areas, each one serving one of the three checks.
- Investor readiness. Whether this deal fits where you are right now, not where you want to be.
- Deal structure reality. Whether the price and the costs hold up against real numbers.
- Financing reality. Whether the money is confirmed, or still being figured out.
- Rules, insurance, and risk. The legal side, the insurance, the holding costs, the worst case.
- Execution and team. Who is responsible for what, and what happens if they drop out.
- Exit discipline. Your way out, and your backup way out.
Every section ends with one line that tells you when to slow down. Like this one:
This deal is higher risk if it only works when everything goes exactly as planned.
A few of the questions
- I know why the seller is selling, not just what they say.
- The deal still works if repairs cost more or take longer.
- I have a second way to fund this if the first one falls through.
- Am I picking this deal because it fits a plan, or because I want it to work?
What this does for you
- Find the blind spot before it costs you.
- Walk into a deal able to explain it to anyone who asks.
- Know when to walk away, while walking away is still cheap.
