Many people are familiar with but few know the power of it.  

I have a limited power of attorney from the original owners to handle all maters  including insurance for the property.  

The spreadsheet will be another tool I use for analysis and I will compare it to other metrics when analyzing deals.

Thank you, good question, cash will work for me, but I understand how to use the power of a note.  

The good news is that you have the power to fix it. 

Welcome to BP @Sheree Fullwood Ultimately you should learn to evaluate properties yourself and there are lots of tools here to help you.

I've been able to find some craigslist with great returns using this tool, I just want to make sure the model is accurate before I jump into anything.

Who is powering boutique coffee shops in the Mission?

A good tool to utilize is excel, you can evaluate a cash flow in minutes.Monthly payment is =PMT(intrate,term,principle) it would look like=PMT(5%/12,180,100000) This is $100,000 at 5% term of 15 years.Then place your estimated occupancy rate, insurance, taxes, an allotment for improvements down the road into a pivot table to automatically subtract.

That said, don't walk into any situation blind; make sure you utilize all the tools available on BP and always ask questions in the forums when you are unsure of something.