Lesson 1 · 10–12 min
What Makes a Deal a Deal
What Makes a Deal a Deal
A property is only a deal when the numbers make it one. The address, the photos, and the agent's enthusiasm are not the deal. The deal is what's left after rent, costs, voids, and stress tests have all had their say.
In this lesson, you'll learn the four criteria that turn a property into a real opportunity: it must produce positive cashflow on day one, survive a higher-rate world, sit inside a sane loan-to-value range, and have at least one credible exit. Anything missing one of those four legs is not a deal — it's a hope.
Plain English Box
A deal is a property where the rent comfortably covers all the costs (including a void allowance and a rate hike), where you're not over-borrowed, and where you have a clear plan B if your plan A stops working.
Powwow Perspective
Most new investors confuse "a property I could buy" with "a deal worth buying." The market is full of the first. Your job is to find the second — and walk past the rest without regret.
Powwow Pause Point
Before you read the next lesson, write down the last three properties you got excited about. Which of the four criteria did each one actually meet?
This Is Normal
If you've never run a property through this filter before, expect most of them to fail it. That's not a problem — that's the filter doing its job.
Resilience Checkpoint
Saying "no" to a property that doesn't stack up is not a missed opportunity. It's the discipline that keeps you in the game long enough to find the one that does.
Pillar Connection
This lesson is the foundation of every other lesson in this course. Yield, cashflow, growth, stress tests, and exits all feed back into this single question: is it a deal?