Multifamily Deal Analysis Fundamentals — Cap Rates, Economic Vacancy & Income Growth Red Flags

One line item change — property taxes — turned a 22% IRR into a negative 10%. That's what happens when investors skip the fundamentals.

In this solo episode, Mark Kenney walks through the core concepts every multifamily investor needs before they underwrite their next deal: cap rates, economic vacancy, income growth assumptions, and the specific red flags that reveal a pro forma built to sell rather than reflect reality.

In this episode you will learn:

• The real deal example: how one property tax adjustment flipped a 22.7% IRR to negative 10% — without changing anything else

• Cap rates explained clearly — the three versions investors need to know and why the in-place cap rate is often misleading

• Economic vacancy broken down — the four components, why they're not created equal, and which one is hardest to fix

• Loss to lease: why it's Mark's favorite vacancy metric — and when it's being used to inflate a deal

• Why 100% unit renovation in year one is almost never realistic — and why you actually don't want it

• The utility bill-back staging red flag: how to spot a pro forma that shows full RUBS income from day one

This is the pre-flight checklist for anyone evaluating a multifamily deal in today's market.

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