Recently, a friend @David Preil, pointed out a different method called DTDMS (Does The Deal Make Sense).It reminds me of the eleventh commandment--use your brain.There are often many factors that will make or break a deal, even if all of the metrics look good on paper, but it requires you to dig a little deeper.What are some of those things that have, or could make or brake a deal for you?

With concrete, you just dig a little trench, put in some gravel, pound and level it out, and pour concrete on top of that.

At first I was reluctant to mess with it, but when I met the investor in the Austin REA who is and has flipped several flooded homes in the Onion Creek area, I thought I would dig a little deeper to see what is possible.  

I’ll dig a little deeper and run some more numbers.

What that means is their people are having conversations with only homeowners all day long, and they know ancillary questions to ask as they work through the script to dig a little deeper.  

I should also mention that instead of fixing the sewage problem or putting in a septic system, they decided to cut the sewer line and dig a big pit in the yard instead... 

You absolutely can't dig a fee to facilitate a transaction between a seller and actual buyer, that is brokering.

I would dig a little deeper on what your expenses and repair costs would be.

So I came across a 4-unit MF in Youngtown and the numbers were just okay but I hadn't seen any other MF so I started to dig a little bit.

The best way to explaining this is for you to download an IRR calculator spreadsheet or build your own simple one and play around with one.For what its worth most deals I deem meeting minimal IRR standards is 13-15% but you have to dig a little deeper to uncover the real placements of cashflows and capitalization events... and then dig even deeper to verify the assumptions such as occupancy, rent increases per year, and what reversion cap rate was used.Again I don't look for IRR cause its manipulated a lot instead I look at total return on a 5 year basis.