I use cash-on-cash to evaluate properties to purchase. 

Its helpful for a quick analysis to see if a deal is worth it, but nothing compares to a real operating statement when it comes to evaluating a property.

I remember a meeting with an investor last year sometime and while I was asking him about evaluating financials his first question was, "how many do you have under contract?"  

I would type these things out and print a copy for each of us as well as agree to review it after time had gone by to evaluate our performance.

Because I really know how to evaluate , negotiate and put under contract.

Found an 1823 log cabin hidden under a 1920 farm house I boughtWW1 Pistol in an attic1950's girly mags hidden in a wall.Architectural drawings of TVA damns from the 40'sAll the std gross items

From what I've gathered from the experienced investors here I should be evaluating properties based on the IRR.

Had an engineering firm come in to evaluate the floor joists on the first floor and had to replace a bunch of that.  

In other words a property’s value in an area today isn’t the same value tomorrow (not literally tomorrow) so you have to constantly evaluate the market/area.

Commercial properties are commonly evaluated using the "cap rate".