Rental Property Analysis: A Real Deal Story

I didn't start in real estate as an agent. I started as an investor — years before I ever got licensed. I'm originally from Monterrey, Mexico, but I've lived in the U.S. since I was 10. I finished high school in Mission, Texas, and got a Civil Engineering degree at Texas A&M. After graduating, I spent six years working in the oil field, saving every dollar I could to put into real estate. Buying rental properties came first. Becoming a realtor came second, once I was already building a portfolio and wanted to get even more hands-on with the market I was investing in.

Here's a real look at how I actually analyze rental deals, using numbers from properties in my own portfolio — publicly listed on BiggerPockets. These aren't every detail of every deal, but they're real numbers from real purchases across Mission, McAllen, Alton, and Edinburg.

Buying below market and refinancing out

One of my favorite deal types is finding a property below market value and refinancing my cash back out. In December 2021, I bought a single-family home in Mission for $120,000 — purchased from my grandmother's neighbor, paid for in cash using private money while partnering with my brother-in-law. Six months later, I refinanced out using a DSCR loan, which left me with only about $5,000 actually invested after refinancing. That property now rents for $1,400/month, with a PITI of $966 and about $200/month in maintenance, cash flowing around $250/month on essentially none of my own capital left in the deal.

The BRRRR strategy in action

A couple of my properties followed the classic BRRRR model — Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat. In one case (a home purchased mid-2020), I put a total of $101,000 into the purchase and renovation — adding a second living room and master bedroom, about 580 additional square feet — then refinanced out $96,000, leaving only about $11,000 actually invested including refinance costs. That property rents for $1,200/month and returns roughly a 35% cash-on-cash ROI.

On another BRRRR (January 2020), I put a full $100,000 into a purchase and renovation, but the property only appraised for $90,000, which meant I could only pull out $65,000 in the refinance rather than the full amount I'd hoped. That's a real risk in this strategy worth understanding going in — the numbers don't always come back the way you plan, even when the work is done right. That property still cash flows around $290/month, and I already have offers on it for $110,000, though it's not worth selling right now once you factor in closing costs.

When a deal doesn't cash flow as hoped — but still works out

Not every deal performs exactly how you expect on paper, and that's worth being honest about. I bought a duplex in Edinburg in October 2015 for $143,000 with $40,000 cash invested. It hasn't cash flowed as well as I originally hoped. But the duplex next door recently sold for $170,000 — meaning the appreciation alone has nearly doubled my invested capital, even without the cash flow performing the way I projected. Real estate can win in more than one way, and it's important to look at the whole picture, not just monthly cash flow.

Financing with a hard money lender

Not every deal has to be financed conventionally. On one property (purchased October 2020) — actually my future home once my wife and I move back to Mission from San Antonio — I financed with a hard money lender at 6.75%. Since carrying two mortgages didn't make sense while we're still in San Antonio, we rented it out in the meantime. It rents for $2,000/month against a $1,000 mortgage, $425 in taxes, $120 in insurance, and $270 in maintenance and vacancy reserve — netting about $183/month cash flow, only a 4% cash-on-cash return. Not every deal needs to be a high-return investment on paper to make sense for your life.

My first investment property

My very first investment property was a duplex in Edinburg, bought move-in ready in August 2017 with 20% down on a 30-year loan — two 2-bed, 1-bath units, each with its own garage and fenced yard. Current rents run $725 per unit, with a $450 mortgage and $550 in upkeep costs. It's the deal that started everything.

What ties all of these together

Every one of these deals started with the same basic underwriting: what am I actually paying, what will it realistically rent for, what are the real expenses (taxes, insurance, maintenance, vacancy), and does the return make sense for the capital going in. Some deals cash flow well from day one. Some take a refinance to make the numbers work. Some don't perform on paper the way you hoped, but win through appreciation instead. Understanding the difference — and having a realistic expectation for which outcome you're underwriting for — is the actual skill in analyzing a rental property.

If you're looking at a potential rental property and want a second set of eyes on the numbers before you make an offer, that's exactly the kind of conversation I like having early — reach out and let's run it together.