Determining ARV of an apartment building w/out comps

[Justin Schaefer]

Hi everyone, newbie here. So I'm working on a commercial multifamily building in a really hot market in SE Wisconsin right now. It needs work in order to fetch full market rent, and I'm wrapping it for a great price as far as cash flow goes so long as I can keep the expenses down. Here's the thing though, I'm going to need to either get an equity partner or come up with some way to get a loan or another creative idea to kick the current tenants out and fully rehab the property. But there really aren't any comps that I've been able to find, to tell me what it's actually worth, and what the ARV is. The current appraisal pretty old. I'm just not clear yet on if asking for a new appraisal right now is a good idea or not. I've got to get this price as far in my favor as I can possibly get it right now, and.... well can I even hire a private appraiser anymore without using the county tax appraiser and risking my taxes going up? If I can get a private appraisal does anyone besides me automatically get copies of it? If I didn't make sense here, please let me know, and any advice is greatly appreciated.

 If your in the area, and might want partner with me on this or other projects, please do let me know.  I think once everything is figured out here, this property is going to cash flow really well.  I've got a really motivated seller.  Thank you!

[Oren K.]

Justin,

A simple ARV for the property would be the total Monthly Market Rents (after rehab), annualized, less the anticipated vacancy and expenses divided by the market cap rates;

((Monthly Market Rents - Vacancy) * 12 - Expenses) / Market Cap = ARV

Having said that, what you should really be doing is generating a Proforma Income / Expense statement (which needs a lot more detail then above) to get to the NOI. With that and the market cap rate, you derive the 'value' of the property (once rehabbed). There are lots of tools available on the internet (and even here on BP!) to help you do this.

If you can NOT prepare the Proforma (on your own or with your agent / broker), then I think there is a learning curve you need to go through before moving forward.

As to your other question regarding an appraisal; the appraiser is working for you and the report they generate only goes to you unless you authorize it.

Good luck,

Oren