The First Deal Casebook

10 first deals by doctors like you

The real numbers. The purchase price, the rate they locked, the cashflow, the tax result, and the part nobody puts on a testimonial: what went wrong.

Summary: Ten first properties bought by physicians, laid out with the actual figures. Not the highlight reel. Every case shows what they paid, what they put down, what it cashflows, what it did to their tax bill, and the mistake they made getting there.

Disclaimer: We are not accountants, lawyers, or financial advisors. Every number here is one real member's result, not a promise about yours. Run your own deals past your own team of professionals.

An adjective is worthless.

"Life-changing." "Amazing returns." "Best decision we ever made." You have read a hundred of those, and not one of them told you whether the deal actually worked.

A number is different. A number you can check. You can set it next to your own income, your own market, your own down payment, and see whether the math holds for you or falls apart.

So that is what these are. No adjectives. The purchase price, the down payment, the interest rate, the monthly cashflow, the first-year tax result. And one more field most people leave out: what went wrong.

One honest thing before you read them.

The fast stories are outliers. The doctor who bought 31 doors in nine months is real, and she is not the median. Most first deals are quieter than that. One property. A modest check every month. A tax return that finally works in your favor instead of against you. That quieter story is the one that actually repeats, and it is the one worth planning around.

We include the outliers because they show the ceiling. We lead you toward the median because that is where you will probably live.

Think of your first deal like residency. Your mentor is the attending. The property is your first patient. You are not supposed to already know everything. You are supposed to learn on it, with someone watching, and come out the other side able to do the next one on your own.

And no, none of this is passive from day one. Toilets exist. Every case below has a "what went wrong" line because every deal has one. We would rather you see the friction now than be surprised by it later.

Case 01 — Kevin & Heather

Two physicians who came in skeptical about whether the tax piece was real. They ran a short-term rental strategy in their first year and their CPA confirmed a $100,500 VERIFY member data refund on the return. Later they scaled into a 12-unit building that cashflows about $5,000 a month VERIFY member data. The refund funded the momentum. The building is what turned it into an income stream instead of a one-time tax event.

Field	First deal
Specialty	TBD — collect from member VERIFY member data
Market	TBD — collect from member VERIFY member data
Purchase price	TBD — collect from member VERIFY member data
Down payment	TBD — collect from member VERIFY member data
Interest rate	TBD — collect from member VERIFY member data
Monthly cashflow	~$5,000/mo on the later 12-unit building VERIFY member data
First-year tax result	$100,500 refund via the short-term-rental strategy VERIFY member data
Hours spent during purchase	TBD — collect from member VERIFY member data
Hours/month now	TBD — collect from member VERIFY member data
What went wrong	TBD — collect from member (mandatory) VERIFY member data
What they'd do differently	TBD — collect from member VERIFY member data

Case 02 — Regan & Rachel

They started with 10 doors and a goal: $100K a year VERIFY member data in cashflow. Inside a year they were at 66 doors VERIFY member data and past the goal. The number that matters here is not 66. It is the pace. Once the first few deals were underwritten and the team was in place, the next ones stopped feeling like starting over each time. That is the snowball, and it is the least glamorous, most reliable part of this.

Field	First deal
Specialty	TBD — collect from member VERIFY member data
Market	TBD — collect from member VERIFY member data
Purchase price	TBD — collect from member VERIFY member data
Down payment	TBD — collect from member VERIFY member data
Interest rate	TBD — collect from member VERIFY member data
Monthly cashflow	Past $100K/yr across the portfolio inside 12 months VERIFY member data
First-year tax result	TBD — collect from member VERIFY member data
Hours spent during purchase	TBD — collect from member VERIFY member data
Hours/month now	TBD — collect from member VERIFY member data
What went wrong	TBD — collect from member (mandatory) VERIFY member data
What they'd do differently	TBD — collect from member VERIFY member data

Case 03 — Jennifer

The outlier. 31 doors VERIFY member data and a six-figure tax refund VERIFY member data inside nine months. We put her here on purpose, because you are going to see numbers like this and wonder if you are behind. You are not. Jennifer moved fast because her situation let her move fast. Read her deal for the ceiling. Do not read it as the schedule you are supposed to keep.

Field	First deal
Specialty	TBD — collect from member VERIFY member data
Market	TBD — collect from member VERIFY member data
Purchase price	TBD — collect from member VERIFY member data
Down payment	TBD — collect from member VERIFY member data
Interest rate	TBD — collect from member VERIFY member data
Monthly cashflow	TBD — collect from member VERIFY member data
First-year tax result	Six-figure refund inside nine months VERIFY member data
Hours spent during purchase	TBD — collect from member VERIFY member data
Hours/month now	TBD — collect from member VERIFY member data
What went wrong	TBD — collect from member (mandatory) VERIFY member data
What they'd do differently	TBD — collect from member VERIFY member data

Cases 04–10 — Awaiting member data

Seven more first deals go here. We are filling these from real member interviews, not composites. Below is the exact set of fields we collect for every case, so a reviewer can see the shape before the stories land. The "what went wrong" line is mandatory. A case without one is not finished.

Collection template — the 11 fields every case must carry: specialty · market · purchase price · down payment · interest rate · monthly cashflow · first-year tax result · hours spent during the purchase · hours per month now · what went wrong (mandatory) · what they would do differently.