Beyond IRR

Louis Hiza
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Beyond IRR is a real estate investing podcast focused on what actually drives performance — not just the headline returns. Hosted by the team behind BHPA, this show breaks down the metrics, structures, and assumptions behind real estate deals. Each episode goes deeper into topics like IRR, cash flow durability, leverage risk, volatility, capital structure, and exit sensitivity — helping investors think more critically about how returns are generated. If you want to move beyond surface-level analysis and understand the mechanics behind the numbers, this podcast is for you.

  1. Nov 2

    Positive vs. Negative Leverage: When Borrowing Destroys Return

    Every real estate investor knows that leverage boosts returns. Fewer stop to notice that leverage does not create return at all — it multiplies whatever return is already there, in whichever direction it happens to point. Borrow against an asset that out-earns your debt and leverage makes a good deal better. Borrow against one that costs more than it earns and that same loan quietly destroys return you would have kept by paying all cash. In this episode, Louis draws the exact line between the two, using one $5 million property that produces $350,000 of NOI — a 7 percent cap rate — and watching it flip from leverage that helps to leverage that hurts by moving a single variable. At a 6 percent loan it returns 8.86 percent; hold everything else constant and move the rate to 8 percent, and the same deal falls to 5.14 percent, below what all cash would have earned. Covered in this episode: The one comparison that decides everything: whether the return the property produces is higher or lower than the cost of the debt you put on it, and why that single relationship determines if borrowing builds return or destroys itPositive leverage, worked end to end — how a 6 percent loan on a 7 percent asset lifts an all-cash 7 percent return to 8.86 percent, and exactly where that extra return comes fromNegative leverage, run with the identical property and loan — how an 8 percent cost of debt drags the same deal down to 5.14 percent, destroying nearly two points of return versus buying all cashWhy more leverage multiplies whichever side of the line you are on — a jump from 65 to 75 percent leverage pushing the positive case to 10 percent and the negative case down to 4 percent — and how it spends your debt service coverage from 1.79 to 1.17 in the processThe loan constant nuance that trips up even seasoned operators: why an amortizing 6 percent loan can carry a 7.2 percent constant and show a cash-on-cash below the unlevered yield, and why that is principal paydown building equity, not return being destroyedThe two different tests hiding inside the phrase “negative leverage” — cap rate versus loan constant for cash flow, unlevered yield versus interest rate for wealth — and why only one of them tells you whether borrowing is actually costing you moneyWhy sophisticated buyers accept negative leverage on purpose, the growth bet that is supposed to rescue it, the 2021 and 2022 deals now watching positive leverage flip negative at refinance, and how BHPA puts unlevered yield, interest rate, and loan constant side by side so you can see the flip coming before the closing tablePlus a historical note on where the word “leverage” actually comes from, the principle attributed to Archimedes, why the British call it “gearing,” and the one thing people forget about a lever: it multiplies force in both directions. This episode is for every sponsor and investor who wants to know whether the debt on a deal is working for them or against them — and exactly how much has to change before the answer flips. Learn more about Beacon Hill Property Advisors: https://bhpropertyadvisors.com Contact us: info@bhpropertyadvisors.com Connect with Louis Hiza on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-hiza-41a1b09a Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beaconhillpa Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61583458093519

  2. Oct 19

    The Capital Stack: Who Gets Paid First, and Who Actually Bears the Risk

    A deal is not funded by “debt and equity.” It is funded by a stack of layers — senior debt, mezzanine debt, preferred equity, and common equity — and each one carries a different priority of payment, a different required return, and a different position in the line of who loses money first when things go wrong. The headline IRR tells you the blended outcome if everything goes to plan. The capital stack tells you what the headline cannot: where your money actually sits, what it is actually exposed to, and how much has to go wrong before the dollar you invested is the dollar that disappears. In this episode, Louis builds a capital stack from the ground up on a $10 million deal, with a layer-by-layer numerical example showing how $677,500 of obligations sitting ahead of the common equity turns the same property into a 17.25 percent return in a good year and zero in a tight one. Covered in this episode: The four layers of the stack and the one rule that governs all of them: the stack is repaid from the bottom up and loses value from the top down, so position in the stack is position in the riskSenior debt as the foundation — first lien, cheapest capital, paid first and last to lose — and how a $10 million acquisition gets financed one layer at a timeMezzanine debt and preferred equity: how stretch capital fills the gap above the senior loan, why mezz is secured by a pledge of equity interests rather than the property itself, and how every layer you add raises your blended cost of capital and your break-evenThe difference between current-pay and accruing preferred equity, and why accruing preferred is a quiet obligation that compounds in the background and can swallow the common equity’s upside at the exitA full numerical walkthrough — a $10 million stack with $677,500 of obligations ahead of the common — showing how the same property pays the common equity 17.25 percent in a good year and nothing at all in a tight year, while a preferred obligation quietly accruesThe downside: how a 15 percent decline in value wipes out 100 percent of the common equity and 50 percent of the preferred while both debt layers walk away untouched, plus the control rights that mezzanine and preferred holders can exercise when a deal is under stressHow to read a deal’s capital stack as a limited partner — why two deals with an identical projected IRR can carry completely different risk — and how BHPA models the full stack to show the blended cost of capital and how much value must erode before each layer takes its first dollar of lossPlus a historical note on the architectural origin of the word “mezzanine,” and what happened to those in-between floors of the capital stack in 2008 — wiped out ahead of the senior debt and behind only the common equity — a reminder that it is position in the structure, not the blended return, that determines who survives a downturn. This episode is for every sponsor structuring a deal and every investor evaluating one who wants to know exactly where their capital sits in the stack, and how much has to go wrong before it is gone. Learn more about Beacon Hill Property Advisors: https://bhpropertyadvisors.com Contact us: info@bhpropertyadvisors.com Connect with Louis Hiza on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-hiza-41a1b09a Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beaconhillpa Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61583458093519

  3. Oct 6

    The Return the IRS Takes: Depreciation, Recapture, and the After-Tax Number That Actually Pays You

    Every metric in real estate — IRR, equity multiple, cash on cash, yield on equity — is a pre-tax number. The return you actually keep is something else entirely. The IRS is a partner in every deal you own, one who never signed the operating agreement and never wired a dollar of equity, and that partner takes a cut of your income every year and a cut of your gain when you sell. The problem is that none of it shows up on the pro forma. Two deals can post the exact same pre-tax IRR and hand you very different amounts of spendable money, and the difference is tax treatment — the one major driver of return that almost never gets modeled. In this episode, Louis walks through the partner nobody models, with worked examples showing how a 20-unit property purchased for $2.5 million turns roughly $120,000 of annual cash flow into about $12,000 of taxable income — and how the depreciation that creates that shelter comes back as a tax bill at sale. Covered in this episode: Depreciation and how to calculate it — residential 27.5-year straight-line, the land-versus-improvements allocation, and why a deduction for money you never spent can shelter most of your cash flow or push taxable income negative while your bank account growsCost segregation and bonus depreciation — how reclassifying 20 to 35 percent of basis into 5-, 7-, and 15-year lives front-loads your write-offs, and why that is a timing benefit, not free moneyPassive losses versus real estate professional status — the single distinction that determines whether your paper losses offset active income or sit suspended until you sellDepreciation recapture, the tail nobody models — a numerical example showing how a $2.5 million purchase sold for $3 million splits into recapture taxed up to 25 percent and appreciation taxed at capital gains rates, and why your after-tax exit is smaller than the pre-tax equity multiple suggestsThe 1031 exchange — how to defer the entire gain and recapture by keeping capital compounding, the 45- and 180-day rules, the swap-till-you-drop endgame, and why you should never let the tax tail wag the acquisition dogThe after-tax return — two deals with an identical 16 percent pre-tax IRR that produce very different after-tax outcomes, and why durable cash flow wins by even more once taxes are countedHow BHPA builds a tax-adjusted yield into its performance dashboards — tracking depreciation runway and the recapture liability so hold, sell, and 1031 decisions are made on the after-tax number, not the headlinePlus a historical note on the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the real estate tax shelters it erased almost overnight, and how that single change to the depreciation rules helped trigger the collapse of the late 1980s and the savings and loan crisis — a reminder that any deal depending on something other than operating fundamentals is exposed to a rule you don't control. This episode is for every operator and investor who wants to know what their portfolio actually earns after the IRS takes its share, not what the pre-tax pro forma says it earns. Learn more about Beacon Hill Property Advisors: https://bhpropertyadvisors.com/   Connect with Louis Hiza on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-hiza-41a1b09a/

  4. Sep 21

    The Concession Problem: Why Effective Rent Is the Only Number That Matters Right Now

    Face rent is what the lease says. Effective rent is what the property earns. In a growing number of markets right now, those are not the same number, and the gap between them is distorting every metric operators rely on to make portfolio decisions. As supply from 2021 and 2022 delivers across Sun Belt and secondary markets, concessions are back. One month free. Two months free. In the most competitive submarkets, operators are giving away 15 to 20 percent of a year's rent just to fill units. But the rent roll still shows the face rent. The dashboard still calculates NOI, DSCR, and break even occupancy off that number. And the resulting metrics paint a picture that is more optimistic than reality. In this episode, Louis walks through exactly how concessions distort your operating metrics, with a unit by unit numerical example showing how a property that appears to have a 1.36 DSCR and a 7 point break even margin actually has a 1.21 DSCR and a 2 point margin once effective rent is calculated. Covered in this episode:  The effective rent formula and how to calculate it for every unit in your portfolio regardless of concession structureHow concessions distort NOI, DSCR, break even occupancy, and property valuation, with a detailed 40 unit example showing the dollar impact at each levelWhy property management reporting systems do not surface this problem and why it is a portfolio management responsibility, not a PM failureConcession burn off risk: what happens at renewal when the market is still offering free rent, and why modeling rent growth from face rent instead of effective rent overstates your forward projectionsHow to calculate and track the concession gap across your portfolio, including the threshold ranges that determine whether the distortion is minimal, meaningful, or criticalHow to adjust acquisition underwriting for concessions: what to ask for, what to model, and why assuming concessions disappear on day one of ownership is a mistakeHow BHPA calculates the concession gap as one of the first steps when onboarding a new client Plus a historical note on New York City landlords in the 1930s, a real estate board recommendation from 1934 that the industry still has not adopted, and why effective rent has been the correct standard for 92 years. This episode is for every operator in a market where concessions are active who wants to know what their portfolio is actually earning, not what the rent roll says it is earning.  Learn more about Beacon Hill Property Advisors: https://bhpropertyadvisors.com/  Connect with Louis Hiza on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-hiza-41a1b09a/

  5. Sep 7

    What If Rates Go Up From Here: Planning Your Real Estate Portfolio for a Higher Rate Environment

    The 10 year Treasury yield just hit a 20 month high. Thirty year mortgage rates are approaching 7%. And for the first time in this cycle, a Fed official has publicly floated the possibility of a rate increase. For the past two years, the consensus assumption in real estate has been that rates were coming down. That assumption has not materialized. And the risk of rates moving higher from here is real enough that every operator should have a plan for it. In this episode, Louis walks through exactly how to plan your portfolio for the possibility that rates are higher in 12 to 18 months than they are today. Not panic. Not prediction. A structured stress test that ensures your portfolio can handle what might be coming. Covered in this episode:  Why the consensus was wrong: what happened with inflation, labor markets, tariffs, fiscal deficits, and the global Treasury buyer base that kept rates elevatedThe four pressure points of higher rates: refinance economics, acquisition underwriting, property values and cap rate expansion, and variable rate exposureA five step planning framework: identifying rate sensitive positions, modeling DSCR at current rates plus 75 basis points, calculating your break even rate, evaluating rate cap positions, and stress testing exit assumptionsTactical decisions for a rising rate environment: when to lock your rate now, how to handle expiring rate caps, why you should underwrite acquisitions to today's rates and not projected rates, and how to prioritize NOI improvement on properties with thin break even rate cushionWhy $10,000 in annual NOI improvement widens your break even rate by approximately 65 basis points on a $1.5 million loanThe opportunities in a rising rate environment: acquisition pricing, reduced competition for stabilized assets, and rent growth in supply constrained marketsWhy the operators who get hurt are not the ones who made bad acquisitions, but the ones who made good acquisitions with one assumption baked in and never modeled what happens if that assumption was wrongPlus a note on Paul Volcker, 18.6% mortgage rates, and why the investors who survived the most extreme rate environment in modern history all shared the same characteristics.  This episode is for every operator with rate sensitive debt, a refinance approaching, or an acquisition under evaluation who wants to make sure their portfolio is planned for the rate environment they might get, not just the one they want.  Learn more about Beacon Hill Property Advisors: https://bhpropertyadvisors.com/ Connect with Louis Hiza on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-hiza-41a1b09a/

  6. Aug 24

    Metrics That Matter — Part 3: The Long Term Outcome Layer

    This is the final episode of the Metrics That Matter series. In Part 1, we covered the decision layer: DSCR and equity yield. In Part 2, the risk and stability layer: break even occupancy and operating expense ratio trend. Today we arrive at level four of the hierarchy: long term outcomes. IRR, equity multiple, and total return. These are the metrics most investors look at first and should look at last. You cannot act on IRR directly. You cannot walk into a property and adjust it the way you can adjust occupancy, renegotiate an expense, or restructure a loan. IRR is an output. It is the result of everything that happens at levels one, two, and three. If those levels are healthy, level four takes care of itself. If those levels are broken, no amount of projected IRR will save you. Covered in this episode:  Why IRR is misleading when used alone: the reinvestment rate problem, why a 33% IRR can produce less actual profit than a 17% IRR, and why timing sensitivity makes IRR a dangerous single metricEquity multiple as a wealth metric: why it does not depend on timing, does not assume reinvestment, and tells a more honest story about what happened to your capitalTotal return and the cash flow contribution ratio: why separating cash flow return from appreciation return is a mistake, how to calculate what percentage of your return is coming from operations versus market conditions, and what it means when that ratio drops below 40%Using level four metrics for the hold or sell decision: why backward looking IRR is irrelevant and forward looking IRR on current equity is the only number that mattersThe refinance decision through the equity multiple lens: how to evaluate whether a cash out refinance plus new acquisition produces a higher combined multiple than leaving capital concentratedPortfolio level analysis: how to calculate weighted average IRRand equity multiple, identify which properties are carrying the portfolio and which are dragging it down, and what to do about each A full four level walkthrough on a single property: reading DSCR, equity yield, break even margin, OER trend, forward IRR, and equity multiple together to see the complete picture and make the right decisionWhy the correct order of portfolio analysis is survival, efficiency, resilience, and only then return Plus a note on Joel Dean's 1951 Capital Budgeting framework, the original hierarchy that the industry simplified into a single number, and why Beyond IRR is an attempt to return to what Dean got right in the first place. This episode is for operators who want to stop treating IRR as the answer and start treating it as one piece of a decision framework that includes five other metrics, all of which matter more on a day to day basis. Learn more about Beacon Hill Property Advisors: https://bhpropertyadvisors.com/  Connect with Louis Hiza on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-hiza-41a1b09a/

  7. Aug 10

    Metrics That Matter — Part 2: The Risk and Stability Layer

    A property can have a strong DSCR, a reasonable equity yield, healthy occupancy, and a clean monthly report. And it can still be fragile. It can still be one insurance renewal, one vacancy spike, or one missed rent growth assumption away from a fundamentally different situation. In Part 1 of this series, we covered the metrics that answer the foundational questions: can this property sustain its debt load (DSCR), and is my capital working or trapped (equity yield). Today in Part 2, we move to Level 3 of the decision hierarchy: risk and stability. The forward looking layer that tells you not what is happening right now, but what happens when conditions change. Covered in this episode:  Break even occupancy as a decision metric: not just the formula, but how the margin between current occupancy and break even determines whether you should make offensive or defensive portfolio decisionsA practical framework for acting on break even margin: what to do when your margin is above 10 points, between 5 and 10, below 5, and below 3Operating expense ratio trend as an early warning system: why the direction of OER matters more than the snapshot, and how upward drift cascades through DSCR, break even occupancy, and every other metric in the hierarchyDecision thresholds for OER trend: flat or declining (no action), 1 to 2 points of increase (yellow flag), and more than 2 points (red flag requiring a full expense audit)How break even margin and OER trend interact to create a portfolio risk matrix: mapping every property across margin size and margin direction to identify where your management attention should be focusedWhy a property with a tight margin and rising expenses is the highest priority in your portfolio, even if its current DSCR looks fineHow levels one through three connect: if your DSCR is thin, your equity yield is compressed, your break even margin is tight, and your expenses are drifting, your long term return is already being eroded before you ever calculate IRR Plus a note on Howard Marks and why the correct order of portfolio analysis is survival, efficiency, resilience, and only then return. This episode is for operators who want to move beyond knowing their properties are performing today and start understanding whether they will keep performing when conditions shift.  Learn more about Beacon Hill Property Advisors: https://bhpropertyadvisors.com/  Connect with Louis Hiza on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-hiza-41a1b09a/

  8. Jul 27

    Metrics That Matter — Part 1: The Decision Layer

    Most real estate investors have dashboards full of numbers — NOI, cash-on-cash return, occupancy, DSCR, IRR — but when it comes time to make an actual decision, they're still going with gut feel. That's not portfolio management. That's accounting with extra steps. In this episode, we're starting a new series called "Metrics That Matter" — focused on how to actually use the numbers in your portfolio to make real decisions. Not just track them. Not just report them. Use them to decide whether to hold or sell, refinance or pay down, acquire or pass. Today, Part 1, we're covering the top-level decision metrics: DSCR and Equity Yield. These are the metrics that answer the big questions: Can this property sustain its debt load? Is my capital trapped, or is it working? What You'll Learn:  Why DSCR isn't just a covenant you need to stay above — it's a decision metricHow to use DSCR to decide whether to refinance, acquire, or raise rentsWhy portfolio-level DSCR matters more than property-level DSCRThe difference between cash-on-cash return and equity yield (and why most investors confuse them)How to identify trapped equity and when to redeploy capital for better returnsThe decision framework for evaluating hold-or-sell, refinance, and acquisition decisionsKey Takeaways:  If a property or decision pushes your portfolio-level DSCR below 1.30x, you're operating with no margin for errorCash-on-cash return measures your original investment; equity yield measures your current stake (including appreciation and paydown)If your equity yield is below what you can earn on a replacement property, you've got trapped equity This is the episode that turns your dashboard from a scorecard into a decision-making tool. Resources:  Learn more about BHPA's portfolio analytics: https://bhpropertyadvisors.com/ Beacon Hill Property Advisors Beacon Hill Property Advisors — Institutional-Grade Asset Managem... Beacon Hill Property Advisors gives small-to-mid-size real estate investors institutional-grade dashboards, KPI analysis, and deal underwriting that turn property data into action.See how we organize metrics around decisions: https://client.bhpropertyadvisors.com/

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About

Beyond IRR is a real estate investing podcast focused on what actually drives performance — not just the headline returns. Hosted by the team behind BHPA, this show breaks down the metrics, structures, and assumptions behind real estate deals. Each episode goes deeper into topics like IRR, cash flow durability, leverage risk, volatility, capital structure, and exit sensitivity — helping investors think more critically about how returns are generated. If you want to move beyond surface-level analysis and understand the mechanics behind the numbers, this podcast is for you.

Information

  • Creator
    Louis Hiza
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    28
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Beyond IRR
  • Show Website
    Beyond IRR