Due diligence activities to be performed before acquiring a property,

1. PROPERTY ACQUISITION - DUE DILIGENCE
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2. Main Components to Analyze
Rent Roll
Financials
Building Information
Market Survey

3. Rent Roll Analysis
To start rent roll analysis an analyst have to first get and authenticate
under listed documents. This is very important to make sure everything
which property financials are showing is true and trustworthy.
• Tenant Leases: proper documentation, longer duration, term of leases, regular
renewal & rent revision
• Rent Roll vs Income Statement: cross check difference in rent roll & income
statement
• Certified Rent Roll: Rent Roll declaration submitted with government
organization (if any)

4. • Document Authentication: Thoroughly check following things to certify
authenticity of rent roll as provided by existing owner/ investor
• Total number of Units
• Type of Units
• Area covered by every unit
• Complete tenant information
• Monthly contracted unit rent
• Monthly ancillary income stated in lease
• Value of cash concessions & reason
• Value of subsidy
• Utilities included in rent Yes/ No
• Delinquencies

5. Financials - Key things to Analyze
• Collected Rental Revenue
• Net Operating Income
• Property Management Firm
Collected Rental Revenue: We have to compare historic data and make trend to get
accurate picture of collected revenue. This analysis should include following things:
• Revenue Growth Metrics
• Rent Growth Metrics
• Revenue – Ancillary Income

6. Revenue Growth Analytical Metrics: Revenue is combination of all income generated through
property and related services i.e. rents, late fees, parking, garage and every source of other income.
In every property main source of revenue is rental income and if revenue is increasing year-over-
year then it should be cross checked whether it is due to rental increase or other source of income.
Below metrics can be helpful in determining percentage change in revenue.
Revenue per square foot (gross)
Revenue per square foot (rentable)
Annual revenue per unit
Annual revenue per occupied unit

7. Rent Growth Analytical Metrics: Rent growth is different than rental increases because rent growth
occurs when you upgrade property according to modern amenities and facilities to compete in market
and rental increase are periodic positive change in rent amount. A scope in rent growth can be measured
by difference in between GPR and Rent charged to tenant. It is only justifiable when gap in between GPR
and Rent charged is high, also proportion of rental growth should be higher than amount of investment
to upgrade the property. Following metrics will always be helpful to check future growth of rent which is
always key requirement behind any investment. These metrics have significant value for analysis when
there are multiple years of data. By analyzing data with following metrics we can build and compare
direction of trends.
 Rent per square foot - Gross
 Rent per square foot – Net Rentable
 Annual rent per unit
 Annual rent per occupied unit
 Average length of tenancy

8. Revenue – Ancillary Income: It is important to know that property managers efficiently generating
revenue from other source of income. It is always more profitable and comfortable than rental rate
increase because investment in these services are much lower than makeover of complete rental unit.
The more impressively property management firm can sell as menu of services to the residents more
efficient they prove themselves towards managing the property. Following are the set of services which
property management should charge or offer as per requirements:
 Application Fees
 Late Fees
 Break-Up Fees
 Appliances
 Pet Fees
 Laundry
 Internet and Cable
 Parking
 Concierge services

9. Net Operating Income: One should closely go through Income statement to check trend of
expenses incurred on the property after revenue part. At the end of day investor will get NOI amount in
his account irrespective of amount of revenue. We have to go through below documents in detail to get
accurate authenticated NOI:
 Financial Statements – Historical & Current
 Actual vs Budgeted expenses – Variance & Explanation
 Schedule of Capital Expenditure
 All contracts and agreements related to the operation
 Historical data of real estate tax & Insurance payments
 Aged receivables & payables

10. Property Management Firm: Every rental property should be managed by professional
property management firm. An expert professional can increase your revenue to optimum extend
because it directly effects charges for his services. The level of property management firm can be judged
in following things:
 Leasing or Vacant unit %
 Collections
 Expert Management Systems
 Emergency Response
 Vendor relationships
 Owner reports
 Maintenance staffing

11. Building Information
We should check all building related details other than ownership deed, because all related documents
are equally important from an investor point. If an investor missed anything related to below mentioned
things then he would bear heavy losses for the same:
 Plans and Reports related to land & building structure
 All licenses, permits and approvals for the property
 Existing loan documents
 Any legal notices from legal/ government departments
 Historical & Current capital improvement plans

12. Market Survey
• Market Competition
• Demographic Survey

13. Market Competition: In this parameter we have to compare similar properties with same size,
locality and amenities for market rent verification. In every property it is important to calculate Gross
Potential Rent to set target of income in the future. To get accurate picture of market rent and gross
potential rent we have to compare at least following things:
Asking rent Vs Actual rent per square feet
Comparative amenities (pool, clubhouse, gym)
Number of bathrooms per unit
Street level visibility (Car Counts)
Covered/ Open parking space
Incidents of crime
Age of assets
Similar unit sizes
To justify above information interview current tenants, local media, on-site & off-site leasing offices,
realtors, social media.

14. Demographic Survey In this parameter we have to compare according to different demographic
properties locations
• Census Data: Population data of the location is the first point to measure future prospects of rental
growth. Check for Block Group, Census Tract, Metropolitan Statistical Area, primary market, 24-hour
cities, secondary market, Tertiary market, Frontier Market while going through censes data.
• Traffic Patterns: If you are looking for commercial property then it’s important to check volume of
traffic in the area where property is located. It will help to draw some conclusions and make
predictions about future business and growth.
• Building Permits: All the paperwork related to building should be checked. Also check where builders
are interesting in taking permits and licenses to build, it clearly indicates that area will be much
favorable for future options.
• Chamber of Commerce: Check with chamber of commerce which industry is coming in and going out.
It affect badly rental growth of that area.
• FBI Statistics: It wise to know crime trend of particular area where you are interested in buying the
property. It is public information and can be easily assessable to everyone.