Deal teardowns
Real deals, and what each one taught me.
Names and numbers changed, lessons kept. Some come with a Try this scenario button that loads the deal into the analyzer so you can watch the model catch the trap live.
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.
Read the teardown →The 6.5 that beat the 7.5
Two deals, same month: a 7.5 and a 6.5. The lower cap was worth more, and it wasn't close. Here's why.
Read the 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.
Read the teardown →Flat rent, quiet erosion
This one doesn't blow up. It just quietly loses value for fifteen years, and nobody notices until they go to sell.
Read the teardown →The anchor went dark
A center that looked diversified was really a three-year bet on one anchor, with co-tenancy clauses waiting to take down the rest.
Read the 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.
Read the 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.
Read the teardown →The Monday that never came
An environmental deal, a verbal loan approval, and an attorney who was going to write it up Monday. Life had other plans.
Read the teardown →He signed on Thursday
The closing I still think about, and what it taught me about doing the work like it matters.
Read the teardown →The 45-day clock
An owner sold with a big gain, planned a 1031, treated the 45-day clock like a suggestion, and paid the tax bill for it.
Read the teardown →Want the number on your own deal?
The analyzer runs the same risk-adjusted math on your building or the deal you're weighing, in about a minute, free.