# How the deal pipeline works

> How deals move across the Acquisition and Rehab boards, what Closed unlocks, and what deleting a deal removes.

The **Deal Pipeline** has two boards. **Acquisition Phase** follows a deal from first look to closing. **Rehab Phase** follows a closed deal through its renovation. A deal sits in exactly one column at a time, and moving it changes what you see on your Dashboard and in your reports.

## The parts

| Board | Columns | What a column means |
|---|---|---|
| **Acquisition Phase** | **Analyzing** | You are evaluating the deal. Every new deal starts here. |
| | **Make An Offer** | You are preparing or have sent an offer. |
| | **Under Contract** | Your offer was accepted. |
| | **Closed** | You bought the property. |
| **Rehab Phase** | **Planning** | The renovation is being scoped. |
| | **In Progress** | Work is underway. |
| | **Completed** | The work is done. |
| | **Ready to List** | The property is ready to sell or rent. |

A fifth stage, **Dead**, marks a deal you are no longer pursuing. It is not a column. Dead deals are hidden from both boards and do not count as active. Set one with **Mark as Dead** on the card's menu, and bring it back with **Show dead deals**, then **Revive**.

Switch boards with the **Acquisition Phase** and **Rehab Phase** tabs above the columns. The search box and the type and priority filters narrow the cards on both boards.

## How a deal moves

Drag a card from one column to another. On the Acquisition board, a card can go to any of the four columns, forward or back.

Only **Closed** deals can enter the Rehab board. If you drag a deal from **Analyzing**, **Make An Offer** or **Under Contract** onto a rehab column, the app refuses and shows "Only closed deals can be moved to rehab phases". A closed deal can start rehab two ways: drag it onto **Planning**, or choose **Start Rehab** from the menu on its card.

> **Note:** A deal that reaches rehab is still a **Closed** deal. The Rehab board tracks the renovation on top of that stage. It does not replace it.

## What starting a rehab creates

Moving a closed deal into **Planning** creates a renovation project for it automatically, and you see "Project created automatically!". The project:

- is named after the property address, followed by **Renovation**;
- starts with the **Planning** status;
- uses **Simple** budget mode, with the deal's rehab budget as its total budget when the deal has one;
- starts at 0% complete and **On Track**.

If the deal already has a project, a second one is not created. You see "Project already exists for this deal" instead.

After that, moving the deal to **In Progress**, **Completed** or **Ready to List** sets its project to the matching status.

> **Tip:** Dragging a card back to an Acquisition column takes it off the Rehab board. It does not delete the project.

## Active deals

The **Active Deals** count on the Deal Pipeline and the Dashboard includes deals in **Analyzing**, **Make An Offer** and **Under Contract**. **Closed** and **Dead** deals are not counted, even though a closed deal is a property you now own.

## What deleting a deal does

Choose **Delete** from a card's menu and the app asks you to confirm **Delete Deal**. The confirmation says the deal will be removed from the Deal Pipeline, your Dashboard statistics, your reports and analytics, and all related records in the app.

Two effects are easy to miss:

- The deal's document folder and every file in it are deleted with it.
- If the deal came from a prospect in **My Prospects**, that prospect goes back to **New** so you can add it again later.

> **Warning:** Deleting a deal is permanent. If you only want it out of your way, leave it where it is. The confirmation does not say what happens to a renovation project linked to the deal, so check your Projects list before you delete a deal that has one.

## Good to know

- The pipeline stage and the Deal Score are independent. Moving a card does not change its score.
- The **Add New Deal** button is disabled when your subscription has ended, with the hint "Upgrade to continue creating". See [How plans, trials and limits work](https://docs.reinvestorhub.ai/how-it-works/plans-trials-and-limits/).
- A guided prompt can appear on a card, such as "Closed. Ready to renovate?". You can switch these off with **Guided assistance** in Settings.

## Related

  - [Move a deal through stages](https://docs.reinvestorhub.ai/guides/track-a-deal/move-a-deal-through-stages/): The steps for moving cards.
  - [Deal stages](https://docs.reinvestorhub.ai/reference/field-reference/deal-stages/): The lookup table for every stage.
  - [Turn a deal into a project](https://docs.reinvestorhub.ai/guides/run-a-renovation-project/turn-a-deal-into-a-project/): Work the project after rehab starts.
  - [How your project budget is calculated](https://docs.reinvestorhub.ai/how-it-works/project-budget/): What the project's budget means.