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Topic

Due Diligence

Guides and real deal teardowns on due diligence.

Guide

How I actually read a deal

Why a cap rate alone lies, and the five things I actually adjust for before I trust a number.

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Guide

The Five Cores: how to actually pick an advisor

The five things I'd look for in anyone I trusted to sell a net-lease asset, and what it costs you when one is missing.

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Guide

Cap rate, explained — and how to actually use it on retail property

What a capitalization rate is, how to apply it to retail investment property, what it hides, how to use it as a strength, and the best- and worst-case ways it plays out.

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Guide

Net operating income (NOI): the number your whole deal rests on

What net operating income is, how to apply it to retail investment property, the ways it gets inflated, how to use a clean NOI as leverage, and the best/worst-case outcomes.

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Guide

Debt service coverage ratio (DSCR): the number your lender cares about most

What DSCR is, how it applies to leveraged retail investment property, what to watch for, how to use headroom as a strength, and the best/worst-case outcomes.

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Deal teardown

The 7.25 cap that was really a countdown timer

A 7.25 cap that everyone loved, until you read the lease: four years of term, a single-store guarantee, and an old roof on the landlord.

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Deal teardown

The guarantee that wasn't

A tenant with a name you'd recognize on the sign, and a guarantee that was really just one franchisee's checking account.

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Deal teardown

The triple net that wasn't

The listing said triple net. The leases said the landlord quietly eats management, some repairs, and capped recoveries.

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Deal teardown

A car drove through the center the day before closing

Everything was done, closing was the next morning, and then a car went through the front of the center. The contract saved it.

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Deal teardown

He signed on Thursday

The closing I still think about, and what it taught me about doing the work like it matters.

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