What happens to a deal after you refer it to the fund

The black box problem

Every realtor has referred a deal to someone and heard nothing back. No update, no timeline, no reason. The deal either moved or it didn't, and you found out weeks later from a third party.

That is not a pipeline. That is an inbox.

A structured fund operates differently. When a deal comes in, it enters a defined sequence of review stages — each with a clear purpose and a documented outcome. Here is how that sequence works.

Stage one: public data screen

Before any internal resource is committed, the deal gets checked against publicly available information.

In NYC, that means pulling from several sources:

• ACRIS — deed history, recorded liens, open mortgages, and any prior transfers that might signal title complications
• DOB (Department of Buildings) — active permits, open violations, stop-work orders, certificate of occupancy status
• HPD — housing preservation records, especially relevant for multifamily properties with rent-stabilized units
• ECB violations — Environmental Control Board fines that may become liens if unpaid
• Zoning lot data — as-of-right development potential, air rights, and any restrictive declarations recorded against the property

This screen takes hours, not weeks. Its purpose is simple: eliminate deals that have a structural problem no amount of underwriting will fix. A property with an open ECB violation that has aged into a lien, or a building with a stop-work order on unpermitted construction, needs to resolve those issues before it is investable — not after.

If a deal clears the public data screen, it advances. If it doesn't, the referring realtor gets a specific reason, not silence.

Stage two: internal underwriting review

Deals that clear the first screen move into financial underwriting. This is where the asset gets modeled against the fund's acquisition criteria.

What gets analyzed at this stage:

• Purchase price relative to comparable sales — not estimates, but recorded deed prices pulled from ACRIS and public transfer tax records
• Rent roll and lease structure — for income-producing properties, actual in-place income versus market rent, vacancy, and any rent-stabilization exposure
• Capital requirements — what the building needs now versus what it will need over the hold period, informed by DOB permit history and any engineering data the seller provides
• Debt assumptions — how the deal is likely to be structured at the financing level, based on current market conditions for the asset class

This stage has a defined owner and a defined deadline. Not indefinite review — a scheduled outcome.

Stage three: deal committee

Deals that survive underwriting go to a deal committee — a group of people with authority to approve, decline, or request additional diligence before a final answer.

The committee meeting produces a written record: what was reviewed, what questions were raised, and what the decision was. That record matters for two reasons. First, it creates accountability inside the organization. Second, it gives the referring realtor an honest explanation of what happened and why.

A decline at this stage is not a dead end for the relationship. It is data. If a deal was declined because the asking price was above the fund's basis threshold, that tells you something useful about the next deal you source.

Why transparency in the pipeline matters

A transparent pipeline is not a courtesy feature. It is how a fund builds a sourcing network that keeps producing.

Realtors refer deals based on trust. That trust is earned by communicating clearly — what stage a deal is in, what the timeline looks like, and what the outcome was when a decision is made. Deals that die in an inbox train realtors to stop referring.

A structured review process also protects the fund from its own blind spots. When every deal goes through the same stages, in the same order, with documented outcomes, it is harder for a bad deal to slip through on enthusiasm — and harder for a good deal to get dropped because nobody followed up.

The takeaway

A deal referral should enter a defined process with clear stages, not disappear — and the realtor who sourced it should know exactly where it stands and why.