DealCheck allows you to analyze and compare a variety of creative financing and loan scenarios, so you can find the most profitable acquisition strategies when buying investment properties.

This includes analyzing deals with multiple purchase loans, seller financing, subject-to loans, balloon loans, future refinance loans, and using secondary financing to minimize your upfront cash requirements.

Follow this guide to help you set up some of the more common creative financing scenarios when analyzing rentals, BRRRRs, flips, or commercial properties.

You may find yourself in a situation where you will be using multiple loans when purchasing and rehabbing a property.

For example, you may have one loan to finance the purchase price of a property, and a separate loan to finance the rehab costs with a different rate and terms.

DealCheck allows you to add up to 5 purchase loans and configure their types, rates, and terms separately. You can add all of the loans you will be using on the Purchase Worksheet page, under the Financing section for any of your properties:

After you've set up your loans, you will see their detailed information on the Property Analysis page, as well as in other places like buy & hold projections and reports:

You may also find yourself using a primary loan to purchase a property (a 30-year conventional loan, for example), and then using an additional loan to finance some or all of your down payment on the primary loan.

This is a popular strategy for minimizing your out-of-pocket cash requirements and maximizing your return on investment.

In this case, the secondary loan may be a home equity loan, a HELOC, or even a loan from your friends or family.

To analyze this scenario, first add your primary loan on the Purchase Worksheet page, under the Financing section. Then, click the Add a Loan button below it and enter the secondary loan information:

DealCheck will automatically calculate all loan amounts, your down payment, and the total cash needed for you based on your loan settings:

DealCheck can help you analyze property purchases where the seller will be providing additional financing to you in the form of a seller loan.

If this is the only loan you are going to have, simply enter the seller financing terms under the Financing section of the Purchase Worksheet page.

If you are going to use seller financing in addition to other loans, enter each of them and their respective terms in the Financing section:

If you're purchasing a property and taking over the existing loan from the current owner (typically called a "subject-to" agreement or purchase), it is also possible to analyze this scenario with DealCheck's analysis tools.

To do this, enter the details of the seller's existing loan in the Financing section of the Purchase Worksheet page:

When you enter the existing loan information as described above, DealCheck will correctly calculate your loan payments and the remaining balance going forward.

If you are investing in commercial real estate or using commercial loans to finance your properties, you will most likely find yourself using balloon loans.

These types of amortizing loans typically have shorter terms (5-10 years), and amortization periods that are longer (15+ years). At the end of the loan term, the remaining principal balance will be due, which is known as a "balloon payment".

DealCheck supports balloon loans and allows you to customize the amortization period separately from the loan term.

When setting up these loans, first enter their Loan Term (the actual length of the loan), and then click on the Customize Amortization button below it and enter their amortization period, which should be longer than the loan term:

When looking at the buy & hold projections and reports for this property, you will see the loan's balloon payment listed in the year when the loan term ends:

When you invest in rental properties, you may find yourself in a situation where you will refinance the property, or one of its initial loans, in future years.

This can help you get more favorable loan terms (for example, lower interest rates), withdraw some of your accumulated equity to fund additional investments, or replace short-term financing with a long-term amortizing loan.

You can add future refinance loans in the Refinancing section of the Purchase Worksheet page for rental properties and BRRRRs:

In addition to the standard loan terms, you'll be able to enter the year in which the refinance will take place, as well as whether the refinance loan will replace an existing loan, or if it will be an additional loan on the property.

Once set up, you will see a breakdown of the refinances in the buy & hold projections and reports for this property, including existing loan repayments, new loan amounts, and refinance costs (which together comprise the financing expenses):

Future refinances are also helpful when analyzing loans with terms that change over time, for example, adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs), or hybrid interest-only and amortizing loans. In these scenarios, set up a separate loan for each "phase" that the loan will transition through.

If you buy properties outside the United States, you may need to adjust the compound interval (or frequency) used by amortizing loans.

In the US, most amortizing loans are compounded monthly. However, in other countries, they may be compounded every quarter (every 3 months) or twice a year (every 6 months). In Canada, for example, most loans are compounded twice a year.

You can adjust the compound interval of any amortizing loan by clicking the Customize Compounding button below the loan Interest Rate input and then selecting the compound interval of your loan: