Quick note — the property in this issue is fictional, but this is the exact workflow I use on real properties every week.
I'm someone who lives in AI and technology, and I decided to use that as my unfair advantage learning real estate investing from scratch. Every week I share exactly what I'm doing, what's working, and what isn't. You get the real process, not a highlight reel.
Why This Even Matters
Here's the thing nobody tells you when you start looking at investment properties.
Most of them are bad deals.
Not a little bad. Lose money every single month bad. Buy a house, collect rent, and somehow end up with less money than you started with bad.
The reason this happens is simple. The rent doesn't cover the mortgage, the taxes, the insurance, and the repairs all at the same time. And if you buy the wrong property without running the numbers first you find that out the hard way, after you've already signed the papers.
So before I ever call an agent, or even get excited about a property I need to answer one question: will this property actually make money?
The faster I can answer that question the more properties I can look at and the faster I find a real deal worth pursuing.
AI cut my evaluation time down to about 30 seconds. Here's exactly how.
Where I Find Properties
I browse Zillow and Redfin looking for multi family properties. Duplexes, small buildings with two or more units. Two units is better than one because if a tenant moves out I still have income coming in from the other unit.
When something catches my eye I pull three numbers right off the listing:
Asking price — right at the top of every listing
Taxes — scroll to the Public Tax History section, take the most recent annual number and divide by 12 for monthly
Bedrooms per unit — more bedrooms generally means higher rent especially in a college town like Mount Pleasant where students need rooms
Then I estimate the rent at affordablehousing.com. Plug in the address and it gives me a realistic market rent for that area in seconds.
That's everything I need. Here's exactly what it looks like using a fictional property based on real Mount Pleasant, MI numbers.
The Property
123 Maple Street, Mount Pleasant MI. Fictional address, real numbers. Two unit duplex, 3 bed upstairs and 2 bed downstairs. Asking $83,000. Taxes $180/month. Insurance $110/month.
The Three Numbers That Matter
Net Operating Income — $1,454/month How much the property earns after all bills, taxes, insurance, maintenance, management, but before the mortgage. Think of it as the property's raw earning power. If this number is already negative before I add a mortgage payment the deal is dead before it starts.
Cash Flow — $750/month What actually lands in my pocket after every single bill including the mortgage. Positive means the property pays me. Negative means I pay the property. I only want properties that pay me.
Cap Rate — 14.5% The return I'd make if I bought the property with all cash. Investors use it to compare deals fairly regardless of financing. Anything above 10% is strong.
The Report Card
Indicator | Result | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
Cash on Cash Return | 32.7% | Pass |
Profit per Unit per Month | $375 | Pass |
Gross Rent Multiplier | 4.9 | Pass |
Cap Rate | 14.5% | Pass |
Cost per Unit | $41,500 | Pass |
Debt Coverage Ratio | 2.06 | Pass |
6 out of 6 green. Worth a call.
When a property passes like this one did I log it straight into my real estate CRM so I can follow up and make a call. I'll walk you through exactly how that system works in a future issue. It's one of my favorite things I've built so far.
Try It This Week
Here's the full prompt packaged into a clean one-page download with your six thresholds, the analysis framework, and how to read the output.
Find a property on Zillow or Redfin. Taxes are in the Public Tax History section. Rent estimates at affordablehousing.com. Paste the numbers in.
30 seconds. You just learned what most investors spend months figuring out. Now go use it.
Hit reply and tell me what you find. I read every single one.
Next week: I built a Siri shortcut that logs distressed properties to my CRM while I'm driving. Speak what you see, Claude does the rest. Completely hands-free.
See you Tuesday.
— Ryan
P.S. Know someone who'd find this useful? Forward this to them. They'll get the free rental analysis prompt the moment they subscribe at acquiredintel.com.