Due Diligence Deep Dive
The 90-day checklist that keeps you out of bad deals
Due diligence is where deals die — or where they should. You'll walk through the complete DD checklist: legal (title, survey, zoning, liens), physical (PCA, roof, HVAC, structural), environmental (Phase I/II ESA), financial (lease audit, CAM reconciliation), and tenant credit DD. Includes MaxLife's full downloadable checklist.
Download the Due Diligence Deep Dive Workbook
Printable PDF with exercises, worksheets, and fill-in notes designed to go alongside every lesson in this course.
What you'll learn
- Run a complete DD process from LOI signature to closing
- Order and interpret a Phase I environmental site assessment
- Audit a rent roll against actual leases and tenant payments
- Spot title exceptions, easements, and zoning issues that kill deals
- Use findings to renegotiate price or walk with earnest money refunded
Lessons
- 01
The DD Framework — What Due Diligence Actually Is
An overview of commercial real estate due diligence — the five domains, the typical 30-60 day timeline, and the discipline of finding everything wrong with a deal before you can't back out.
11 min - 02
Legal Due Diligence — Title, Survey, Zoning, and Contracts
How to read a title commitment, what to look for in a survey, how to verify zoning and permitted use, and the legal documents that determine whether you can actually do what you bought the property for.
12 min - 03
Physical Due Diligence — PCA, Roof, HVAC, and the Walk-Through
How to order and interpret a property condition assessment, what to inspect personally, and how to identify the deferred maintenance and capex risks the seller didn't disclose.
12 min - 04
Environmental Due Diligence — Phase I, Phase II, and the Hidden Risks
How environmental DD works in commercial real estate — what a Phase I covers, when Phase II is needed, the legal protection of innocent landowner status, and how to handle contamination findings.
11 min - 05
Financial Due Diligence — Auditing the Numbers
How to verify the rent roll, T-12, and operating expenses against actual payments — and the specific financial games sellers play to inflate NOI and make properties look more profitable than they are.
12 min - 06
Lease and Tenant Due Diligence
How to read commercial leases, identify problematic clauses, get estoppel certificates, and assess tenant credit risk — the lease-level work that determines whether projected rent is real rent.
12 min - 07
From DD to Closing — Going Hard, Lender DD, and the Final Stretch
How to handle the final 30 days before closing — going hard on earnest money, the lender's parallel DD process, the closing checklist, and what happens between satisfying contingencies and recording the deed.
11 min
Up next — Course 11
Commercial Financing & Capital Stack
Every debt product a CRE investor needs to know