# Deal stages

> What each stage on the Deal Pipeline board means and how a deal moves through them, from Analyzing to Closed or Dead.

Every deal you save to your Deal Pipeline has a stage. The stage shows where that deal sits in your buying process, and it drives what you see on the Deal Pipeline board, your Dashboard, and your Reports.

## The five stages

In canonical order:

| Stage | Meaning |
|---|---|
| **Analyzing** | You're evaluating the deal. Every new deal starts here. |
| **Make An Offer** | You're preparing or have submitted an offer on the property. |
| **Under Contract** | Your offer was accepted and you're working toward closing. |
| **Closed** | You closed on the property. |
| **Dead** | You're no longer pursuing this deal. |

### Analyzing

A deal enters **Analyzing** as soon as you click **Save to Pipeline** at the bottom of the Deal Analyzer. This is the default stage: whatever property you're running numbers on, it lands here first.

### Make An Offer

Move a deal to **Make An Offer** once you're ready to put an offer in on the property.

### Under Contract

Move a deal to **Under Contract** once the seller accepts your offer and you have a signed contract.

### Closed

Move a deal to **Closed** once the sale finishes. A closed deal is also what unlocks the **Start Rehab** action on its card, which moves it into rehab planning. Creating the project itself is a separate step, covered in [Move a deal through stages](https://docs.reinvestorhub.ai/guides/track-a-deal/move-a-deal-through-stages/).

### Dead

**Dead** marks a deal you're no longer pursuing, whether the seller went another direction, financing fell through, or you decided to walk away.

Unlike the other four, Dead isn't a column you drag a deal into. Choose **Mark as Dead** from the card's menu instead. The Deal Pipeline board covers **Analyzing** through **Closed**, and dead deals sit outside it. Below the board, **Show dead deals** lists them, and **Revive** moves a deal back to where it was. A deal that was in rehab returns to its rehab phase, and any other deal returns to **Analyzing**.

> **Note:** **Dead is a terminal state, not a deletion.** The deal record isn't removed, and its details stay intact. A dead deal simply stops counting as active and drops off the Deal Pipeline board; you can bring it back with **Revive**. If you actually want a deal gone, delete it separately from its card menu. That is the action that removes it for good, and it can't be undone.

## Moving a deal between stages

On the Deal Pipeline board, open the **Acquisition Phase** tab and drag a deal's card between the **Analyzing**, **Make An Offer**, **Under Contract**, and **Closed** columns as it progresses.

## What counts as an active deal

The **Active Deals** count on your Deal Pipeline and Dashboard only includes deals in **Analyzing**, **Make An Offer**, or **Under Contract**. Once a deal is **Closed** or **Dead**, it no longer counts toward that number, even though closed deals are still very much part of your portfolio.

## Dead deals still show up in your records

A dead deal isn't erased from your data. It just moves off the active board. Your Deal Pipeline Summary report still includes a **Dead** category in its stage breakdown, so you can see how many deals fell through alongside the ones that closed.

> **Tip:** Stage and Deal Score are independent. A deal can carry any score at any stage, and moving a deal to a new stage doesn't change its score.