Practicing Deal Analysis

[Broderick Campbell]

Hello all,  

I'm a newbie in the Houston, TX area looking to practice deal analysis so I can be a service not only to myself when I start investing but to someone else that's willing to teach in exchange. I don't even know where to start to analyze a deal. For all the experienced investors, where would you start? On the MLS, on Craigslist, etc. I want to be able to determine what's a good deal whenever I come across a property. If my question is too broad, I hope you guys can guide me through. Thanks in advance ladies and gents!

[Dustin Beam]

Just my $.02, nothing more. 

I'm still looking for my first property, but am in negotiations with 12 units now (fingers crossed). But, I started an excel spreadsheet like @Zachary Curry said. It started more simple, but then it got more involved, but nothing crazy. Although I don't have 20 years experience to test it out, I feel it is very good.

I basically set up inputs like purchase price, current rent, bank interest rates, etc. Then I found a link that gives average life for Cap-X items. I took average life of each and price of each and average them out for a monthly amount. Then I include things like future From that, I had it calculate down payment, cash on cash return....Pfft, I may as well just show a pic haha. Hopefully it's big enough to see/read