Meet Deal Lab: Read the Deal Before You Write the Offer

The listing hit this morning. Three bedrooms, a dated kitchen, a roof with a few years left. You walked it at lunch and the spread looks right.

Now comes the part that happens at the kitchen table. One calculator for profit. Another for your max offer. A spreadsheet for holding costs. A rent estimate in a browser tab, just in case the flip turns into a hold.

Every tool asks for the same ARV. None of them talks to the others. And when you finally decide to make the offer, you type it all in again for the lender.

There is a shorter path.

Meet Deal Lab, now in your Borrower Portal

Deal Lab is a free tool inside the Upright Borrower Portal. You save a property once, run four calculators against it, and get one plain-language read on whether the deal works. When the numbers hold up, one click starts your loan application with those numbers already filled in.

It is free with your account. There is no credit pull and no obligation to borrow. You can see the whole thing on the Deal Lab page, or log in and add a property in about ten minutes.

One property, one record

Everything starts with the property. You enter the address (or just a nickname if you want to keep it private), the property type, and an estimated ARV. Taxes, insurance, and HOA dues live in the property's assumptions, so you enter them once and every calculator uses them.

Change the ARV in one place and it updates across the whole deal. Change the rehab budget in the flip calculator and your max offer moves with it. That is the point: one record, not four copies of the same guess.

Four calculators, one read

Each calculator runs in two steps: inputs, then results. Run them in any order. The more you run, the sharper the read gets.

Deal Lab at a Glance

Fix & Flip Profitability

Enter the purchase price, rehab budget, rate, hold period, and your closing and sales cost percentages. Deal Lab returns net profit, profit margin, return on cost, and a cost breakdown from acquisition to exit, including holding costs. The read sits at the top in one sentence, for example: "Healthy: profit on a 22% margin."

Minimum Acceptable Offer

This one sets your ceiling. It starts at the common rule of thumb, 70% of ARV less rehab, and you can adjust the percentage. The number stays visible on the property overview and updates as you type. If your purchase price climbs above it, Deal Lab tells you.

DSCR / DSCR Takeout

If renting the property is your fallback exit, this calculator shows whether the rent carries the debt. You get the coverage ratio, a full payment breakdown (PITIA), monthly and annual cash flow, and how much equity you hold at refinance.

Market Insights

Pull the local market for the property's ZIP: pricing, supply, days on market, and how often sellers are cutting price. It is the same data behind Market Insights, applied to the house in front of you.

Work backwards from the profit you want

Most calculators answer one question: what do I make at this price? Deal Lab also answers the reverse.

Turn on "Work Backwards from a Profit Target," set your target margin (20% of ARV by default), and pick the number to solve for: purchase price, rehab budget, or ARV. Deal Lab fills in the gap. It tells you what you could pay, how much rehab the deal can absorb, or what the house has to sell for to hit your number. It also flags when a target is out of reach.

Stress test the deal before you commit

A deal that works on the base case is a start. Deal Lab shows you what happens when things slip.

The variance heat map

A grid of profit outcomes across rehab overruns and ARV misses, with your base case outlined. One glance shows whether a 10% overrun or a soft appraisal still leaves you in the money.

The draw schedule

A month-by-month view of your draw schedule: each draw, your outstanding balance, monthly interest, and cumulative interest. Interest accrues only on what has been drawn, so you see real carrying cost, not a worst-case estimate.

From read to application in one click

When the read says the numbers work, the next step is right there. "Start Loan Application" carries the property and your numbers into a new application. No retyping, no second spreadsheet.

From there your Upright branch picks it up: the same dedicated people from application through your final draw. For a flip, that means rehab loans up to 92.5% of cost, rates in the 8s, and closings in as few as 7 days.

Every figure in Deal Lab is an estimate. Final terms are set during underwriting, and your branch walks you through any difference.

The Bottom Line

The best deals are won before the offer goes in. Deal Lab gives you one place to save the property, four calculators that share the same numbers, and one plain read on whether it works. When it does, your application is already started, and your branch is ready to move fast.

Call (216) 206-6079 or start your application at uprightlending.com.Add your next property in Deal Lab and get a read in about ten minutes. Create your account.