How the score works
Stated from the engine’s code · updated September 10, 2026
DealValuator gives every exit strategy a score from 0 to 100 and turns the score into a Buy, Hold, or Pass verdict. This page shows the arithmetic: what each strategy measures, how the measures are weighted, where 0 and 100 sit, what a blank input defaults to, and how the stress test works. Nothing here is a model or an opinion. The same inputs always produce the same score.
The verdict
A strategy scores Buy at 75 or above, Hold at 55 or above, and Pass below 55. Those are the defaults. Your Buy-Box can move the cutoffs, and it can add minimums of its own (a cap rate, a cash-on-cash return, a DSCR, a flip margin, a cash-left-in ceiling, an assignment spread) that a deal must clear regardless of its score. The 0 to 100 score itself is always computed by the engine; the Buy-Box changes what the score means to you.
How a measure becomes a score
Each measure is placed on a straight line between a “poor” value, which scores 0, and a “great” value, which scores 100. Values in between score in proportion; values outside the range are capped at 0 or 100. A 12.5% flip margin, for example, sits halfway between the 5% poor mark and the 20% great mark, so its margin score is 50. Where a strategy has several measures, the scores are combined with the weights in the table below and rounded to a whole number.
The ten strategies
| Strategy | What it measures | How the score is built | Where 0 and 100 sit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fix and flip | Profit margin and return on the cash in the deal | 60% of the margin score plus 40% of the ROI score | Margin: 5% of ARV scores 0, 20% scores 100. ROI: 8% scores 0, 30% scores 100. |
| Buy and hold | Cash-on-cash return, cap rate, debt coverage, and monthly cash flow | 30% cash-on-cash, 25% cap rate, 25% DSCR, 20% monthly cash flow | Cash-on-cash 4% to 12%. Cap rate 4.5% to 7%. DSCR 1.0 to 1.5. Cash flow $0 to $400 a month. |
| Short-term rental | The same four rental measures, with income from nightly rate and occupancy | Same weights as buy and hold | Same scales as buy and hold. |
| BRRRR | How much cash stays in the deal after the refinance, and the return on what stays | 60% of the cash-left-in score plus 40% of the post-refinance cash-on-cash score | Cash left in: 20% of ARV left in scores 0, none left in scores 100. Post-refi cash-on-cash 6% to 25%. |
| DSCR rental | Whether the rent covers the note on a refinance at 75% of ARV | The DSCR score alone | DSCR of 0.8 scores 0, 1.5 scores 100. Most lenders want at least 1.2. |
| Wholesale | The assignment spread in dollars and as a share of ARV | 70% of the dollar-spread score plus 30% of the percent-spread score | Spread $0 to $25,000. Spread 0% to 12% of ARV. |
| Wholetail | What is left after selling as-is to a retail buyer at 85% of ARV, with no renovation | The net score alone | Net of $0 scores 0, $80,000 scores 100. |
| Build-to-rent | Development spread over the market cap rate, yield on cost, and post-refinance cash-on-cash | 35% development spread, 35% yield on cost, 30% post-refi cash-on-cash | Spread 50 to 250 basis points. Yield on cost 5.5% to 8.5%. Cash-on-cash 6% to 25%. |
| New build | Gross margin on the completed value | The margin score alone | Margin of 8% scores 0, 25% scores 100. |
| Land | Gross margin on the completed value, same as new build | The margin score alone | Margin of 8% scores 0, 25% scores 100. |
The ten strategies are computed from one set of inputs and ranked by score. The best strategy leads the worksheet; the deal-breakers named on the report are the measures that fell at or near 0 for the strategies that failed.
Defaults when an input is blank
Anything you leave blank uses a stated default, shown on the worksheet as a dotted value you can replace. The defaults are ordinary Dallas-Fort Worth assumptions, not predictions about your property.
| Input | Default |
|---|---|
| Vacancy | 7% of gross rent |
| Operating expenses | 40% of effective gross income when nothing is itemized |
| Loan term | 30 years |
| Refinance loan-to-value | 75% of ARV |
| Refinance term | 30 years |
| Selling costs | 7% of the sale price |
| Hold period | 5 years |
| Land share of value | 15% (for depreciation) |
| Marginal tax rate | 32% |
| Wholetail sale price | 85% of ARV |
The stress test
The stress test moves each key input ten percent up and ten percent down, one at a time, and recomputes the score each time. The input that moves the score furthest is the one the verdict depends on most, and the one to verify before you write an offer. If a ten percent move in a single input flips the verdict, the report says so.
What the score is not
It is not a prediction, an appraisal, or advice. It is arithmetic on the numbers you supply and the defaults you accept. A high score on bad inputs is a high score on bad inputs. Verify the after-repair value, the rent, and the renovation budget with people who know the street, and read the Terms of Service for what the output is and is not.
Every term above is defined in the glossary. To see the score on a real property, start free: three deals, no card.