Buy-box screening

Screen every deal against the box you actually buy.

Define the criteria your firm uses to make acquisition decisions, including market, unit count, vintage, cap rate, DSCR, and rent upside. FirmSource Intelligence checks every incoming deal against those criteria and recomputes the going-in cap from the T-12, so every screen starts with the in-place actuals.

app.firmsource.com · Deal · buy-box fit
Buy-box fitCore-Plus Fund IIOut of box2 / 6 clear
Going-in cap ≥ 6.75% Contested
~7.5%~4.6%▼ 2.9 pp

215 bps below the 6.75% floor · recomputed from the T-12

Free checks · scored now
×Target market on your listTorrington, CT
×Unit count ≥ 108
Vintage ≥ 1980awaiting
Price / unit ≤ $180K$142K
Normalized against the financials
Rent upside ≥ 10%~18%
×DSCR ≥ 1.3×0.76×
6 / 6
criteria checked
T-12
cap recomputed from source
Seconds
to a screened call
1
shared buy box
How it screens

A defensible call, not a gut check.

01

Your criteria

Target markets, unit minimums, vintage, going-in cap rate, DSCR, and rent upside are checked against the standards your firm actually uses to move deals forward.

02

Verified numbers

FirmSource recomputes the going-in cap from the T-12 and rent roll, so the screen rests on in-place actuals, not broker assumptions.

03

Pass, partial, or knockout

Each criterion resolves to a clear status, with hard knockouts separated from items that may change with price, financing, or missing information.

04

Cited to the source

Every call points back to the document, page, tab, or line it came from, including the OM, T-12, rent roll, or P&L.

05

Pending, not blank

Criteria that need a missing document are marked as awaiting evidence, so a partial packet still gives your team a real read.

06

Ranked pipeline

Fit scores roll up across the pipeline, so the deals worth your team's attention are obvious at a glance.

From screen to memo

The screen becomes a written investment call.

FirmSource Intelligence turns the buy-box screen into a disciplined screen memo, with reconciled figures, a line-by-line NOI bridge, and a clear recommendation that shows what passed, what failed, and what would change the call.

  • NOI bridge from broker-stated to normalized
  • Reconciled figures: as-quoted vs verified
  • The explicit conditions that would change the call
FirmSource Intelligence· Screen memo · 83 Birge Stdrafted 41s · 90% confidence
×
Pass on it — four hard knockouts, no price fix
Screened on 3 of 4 key docs · still needs the P&L
1
Two knockouts are structural
Torrington is off your target list, and 8 units misses the ≥10 minimum. Binary and price-invariant — a perfect number everywhere else wouldn't fix it.OM p.2
2
The cap collapses once the expenses are normalized
The OM's 30% ratio and $88K NOI become ~54% and ~$54,300 once the management fee and reserves are added, R&M is marked to the audited $15,524 (vs the OM's $5,135), and vacancy is marked to market — a ~4.6% cap, ~215 bps under the 6.75% hurdle.OM p.2T-12
3
Not financeable at this price
At 75% LTV / 6.5% / 25-yr, debt service is $71,707 against ~$54,300 NOI — a 0.76× DSCR. The property doesn't cover debt; negative leverage.
4
Rent upside is real but doesn't move it
In-place rents average ~$1,309 vs the OM's $1,550 'market' — an ~18% gap that clears the soft ≥10% criterion — but $1,550 is top-of-range and unverified.RR 03/25OM p.2
Reconciled figuresas-quoted vs FirmSource Intelligence
Going-in cap contested~7.5% ~4.6% ▼2.9pp
Rent upside~18% ~18% — in line
Normalized financials · NOI bridge$88,141 ~$54,300 ▼38%
VacancyVacancy / credit loss @ 5% — OM assumes noneOM p.2−$6,302
ExpensesAdd management fee — 6% EGI, OM omitsT-12−$7,184
ReservesAdd reserves — ~$300/unit, OM omits−$2,400
ExpensesR&M to actual — $15,524 vs OM $5,135T-12−$10,389
ExpensesUtilities to actual — $9,178 vs OM $7,043T-12−$2,135
TaxesHeld at actual $19,417 — CT doesn't reassess on saleT-12$0
✓ ties to the rent roll
What would change the call:Reprice ≤ $37MVerify the T-12Confirm rents

Screen every deal against your buy box.

Define your criteria once. FirmSource checks every incoming deal against it, recomputes the cap from the T-12, and turns the first screen into a clear proceed, pass, or review call.