How We Screen a Duplex Before Making an Offer

By the time we call an agent about a duplex, we’ve already decided whether it’s worth their time and ours. Here’s the quick screen we run first, on our own, before anyone gets a phone call.

The five-minute pass

We look at these before anything else:

• Both units rented, or at least rentable? A vacant side isn’t a dealbreaker, but a vacant side that’s been vacant a long time is a question worth asking.
• What does each unit actually rent for? Not the list agent’s dream number — the real, comparable rent for that size and street.
• Separate utilities, or one meter? Shared utilities aren’t fatal, but they change the math and the tenant headaches.
• One roof, two furnaces, two water heaters? Big-ticket systems are where “cheap duplex” turns into “expensive duplex” fast.
• Would a normal person want to live there? If the answer is no, the rent number on the spreadsheet is fiction.

The pencil test

Then we run the numbers the boring way: total rent, minus mortgage, taxes, insurance, and honest set-asides for repairs and vacancy. If it doesn’t clearly pencil with conservative assumptions, we pass. We don’t talk ourselves into it.

Most duplexes we look at don’t make it past this screen, and that’s the point. Saying no quickly is how you leave room to say yes to the right one.

Want the full version of this in a printable format? We’re putting our checklists together over on the Free Stuff page.