What is a Rent Roll & Why Is It Important to Investors?

You buy two things when you invest in any rental property. The first is real estate, and the other is property-generated income. So, using metrics like price-per-square, make your value-determination process very easy. However, if you want to measure the income stream value, then it would be more difficult. In addition, It becomes more complicated during economic volatility and the usual condition of market time. 

So, we are going to discuss how you can determine the actual value of the property before selling and buying on rent using the rent roll:

What is a Rent Roll?

An asset of real estate generates rental incomes and a rent roll measure and shows the data. So, you can use any income, such as real estate income (for example, multifamily and single-family buildings, shopping centres or office buildings, or other commercial property and agricultural land for lease), to construct a rent roll.

You can collect information from the rent roll and use it in formulas for the financial performance of the vital rental property, such as NOI (net operating income), GRM (gross rent multiplier), cup rate, and IRR (internal rate of return).

Rent Roll Work Process:

You can also develop it as a master rent roll to cover the whole portfolio of rentals or property-specific. So, the property type influences the exact rent roll information.

Read more about how to buy your first rental property with no down money.

So, let’s find out the types of information on an ideal rent roll:

Unit Data:

1. In case of multiple number units, you need a Unit number (A,#1, etc.)
2. Additional amenities
3. Size of the lot
4. Square footage

Information Of The Property:

1. The management company or property owner’s name
2. Property address
3. Property Type
4. Property’s marketing area or zoning location (industrial, commercial, residential, urban, suburban, mixed-use)

Information Of Tenant:

1. Tenant Name
2. Monthly rent fee and extra rent fee (such as water cost, electric cost, and late fine)
3. Rent payment date 
4. Deu date of rent and past rent
5. Rent of prepaid
6. How much money does the landlord hold for the security deposit
7. Start and end date of the lease 
8. Rent concession amount by the tenant 

Summary of Rental Income:

1. Collection of the monthly rent, which includes extra income from rental
2. Collection of the annual rent includes landscaping charges, charges of annual fees, and extra income from the rental.

Source Of The Data 

Rent roll data comes from limited sources. However, the document of the rent roll contains vest information. So, let’s identify these sources:

• Information of MLS listing( if anyone purchased this property from agents)
• Assessor of local tax for zoning and lot and property size.
• An appraisal report that a detailed property needs
• Tenant file and lease agreement for tenant and rental information
• P&L for the gross income of month and year.

Use 5 Ways To Use Rent Roll Easily:

You can easily measure rental property performance’s future outcomes and forecast it using a rent roll. However, you need to use different copies of the rent roll for different periods as your baseline data to create an accurate analysis. 

1. Current month
2. The same month a year ago
3. The previous two year’s yearly rent rolls

Renewals And Tenant Turnover:

The property rate remains the same or a hundred present or more turnover, whether the tenant changes the name within a year or every year. The tenant needlessly spends money on marketing, advertising, and leasing during the vacancy. Therefore, the cash flow decreased during this period.

The tenant usually has a high turnover but low renewal rates, which seems unfair sometimes. So, flexible factors like ordinary property management, poor maintenance, and some defect on the property that you don’t know can influence the high turnover.

Read more about the brrrr method.

Rent Growth:

Growth Of The Rent

You can notice the revenue increase rate by comparing the similar month’s report of every year. So, you can check the property performance in a similar market by comparing the average rate of growth with other various potential investments. 

Collection Of On-time Rent:

You can determine the expertise of property management services and the renting of the quality tenant by checking the percentage of due date’s payment time. 

You can renew the tenant’s lease based on their on-time payment habit. However, you can see other options on the market if the property demand is vital if your tenant pays you late every month. 

Income From Late Fee:

You can add the late fee money if your tenant pays late regularly. Therefore, it can be your other income source, just like found money. ( Example: if your rent is 3k and your tenant pays 300 for a late fee, then you will gain 10% more)

Activity OF Eviction:

Gather information about the tenant changing time from the seller after noticing yearly tenant changes. Ask the seller if he has to take the tenant to court or local authorities to evict or if they leave the poetry on their own. So, ask about the reaper and legal costs before renting the property again.

Rent Rolls users:

Rent roll offers more thighs than the first time you see it. You can find a detailed page on a rent roll for a property. So, buyers, sellers, investors of real estate, property managers, and lenders can use this detailed all-purpose document:

• If the property is stable in generating gross income from rental, sellers and buyers know this quickly by checking the rent roll. So, You can check the possibility of increasing the rent fair by comparing the market rate and the current rate your tenant pays. However, you can ask for more payment for upcoming months if this is the last month of the contract because there are many competitors of the tenant that are ready to pay more rent.
• If the tenant starts causing problems, the rent roll will show signs of an early warning to you and your property management service. On top of that, it shows a big no if the tenant is a usual slow payer or if it has become a habit recently. Therefore, you can start the eviction process immediately, prepare for repair, and advertise in the market for a new tenant. 
• If you are an investor in real estate, then you can use this to search rental property potential, verify current income from rental, anticipate flow problems, etc. So, investors can check real gross income from P&L by comparing the P&L statement’s income line to the rent roll. Rent rolls show via CMA if the tenant pays fair according to the market rate or if there is room to increase rent.
• Banks, lenders, and mortgage brokers are expertly using this to evaluate upcoming loan risks, opening a credit line or a cash-out refinance. So, the potential for income generation in the future depends on the report of the rent roll. So, the lenders review all pages of the rent roll regularly. However, the vacancy rate can increase, and the turnover rate can decrease over previous years. So, that shows the property condition, the searching process of the tenant, or the management company has a severe issue.

Conclusion:

Investors of commercial rental property use rent roll documents to improve mental performance and increase gross income. It provides detailed and authentic information about the tenant, property, and rents. It also provides data like occupancy rate, rent growth, tenant turnover, etc. So, you can construct a whole property portfolio or a single one on a rent roll.