A cheap asking price is not a deal. It is a file that still has to survive your PHA, your insurance market, and the two people you will send to the door.
An autopsy is a written post-mortem on a file you walked from. You run it so the next offer in your market does not die for the same reason.
I buy remote. Numbers, offers, screening calls, HAP paper, and insurance live on the laptop. A local realtor handles keys, showing, and lease walkthrough. A contractor who also cleans handles repairs, make ready, punch list, and meeting the inspector. That is enough boots. The rest is paper.
Write the kill reason in one line
Open a note titled with the address and the date you walked. First line only: the reason the file died. Not a list. One sentence.
Examples that actually kill cheap doors in any market:
Payment standard for the voucher size sits under real asking rent after the utility allowance. Your PHA will not bless the rent you need.
Occupancy standard on the unit is smaller than the bedroom count in the listing. The family your realtor can show cannot occupy it.
Insurance quote comes back nonrenewable or priced like a mansion. Low price houses get dropped. If you cannot replace coverage from the laptop, the file is dead.
Seller wants all cash on a clock that does not leave room for HAP lag after inspection and owner certifications.
Contractor video shows a make ready that blows your cash-per-door cap before you ever submit a Request for Tenancy Approval.
If you cannot name the kill in one line, you do not understand the file. Do not bid the next one yet.
Attach the three proofs
Under that line, drop three attachments only.
One: your PHA payment standard and utility allowance sheet for that bedroom size, with the rent you would have asked circled. Payment standard is the cap your PHA uses to size subsidy. Utility allowance is the dollar they subtract when the tenant pays a bill.
Two: the realtor photos plus the contractor walk video. Timestamp them. If you flew, you already lost the remote model.
Three: the insurance indication and the seller's close date. If those two cannot live in the same month, the cheap price was a trap.
That is the whole folder. Do not write a memoir.
Score the next file against the last kill
Before you write an offer in your market, open the last autopsy. Ask only this: does this new address fail the same test?
If the last kill was payment standard versus asking rent, pull your PHA sheet first, not the listing photos.
If the last kill was insurance, get a quote on the new address before you burn the realtor's time.
If the last kill was make ready, send the contractor the listing photos the same day and require a punch list in dollars, not vibes.
Cheap files fail for repeatable reasons. Your job is to stop paying tuition twice in the same city.
Early stage is unforgiving. Target under $10k cash per door. You do not get extra lives because the seller was motivated. Motivation does not write HAP.
Walk the file. Name the kill. File the three proofs. Then go find a door that survives the same test in your market.
Actionable Takeaway: Open your PHA website today. Download the current payment standard and utility allowance for one bedroom size you would actually buy. Save it next to a blank note titled Autopsy. The next time a cheap listing dies, write the one-line kill and drop those two PHA pages in the same folder before you look at another address in that city.