Rental Property Cash Flow Analysis

[Nick Williams]

Hey All - 

I'm a Realtor in MN and am new to BP(this is my first post!). I am listing a duplex in St. Paul and I'm wondering what sort of cash flow analysis Realtors/investors like to see under MLS supplements? I reviewed >50 sold listings in the area and have yet to see any detailed analysis. It seems like a missed opportunity. Have you had good luck with doing an in-depth snapshot? If so, do you have a template you use? Or is it a poor use of time because buyers will do their own analysis regardless?

Thanks for the help!

Nick Williams

[Andrew Johnson]

Nick Williams Unless the owners have financials that show *actual* performance of the property you're probably wasting your time. You can maybe mess around with rentometer or some of those sites and build you own proforma but that will only get you so far. Why? Any buyer will do it and the (fair or not) assumption will be that your estimates are a bit "rosy". Have you ever seen those broker-produced proformas on Loopnet? It's like the properties the represent walk on water...

Just do your own comp analysis and price it accordingly. I don't think you really want to debate a buyers agent about why you think a 7% capex holdback makes sense versus 10%. Assert why your vacancy assumption of 8% is more valid than theirs. Anyway, just food for thought.