Apartment Building Appraisal Services

From small five or six unit structures to large apartment buildings with as many as several hundred units, and even larger, multiple building projects, our firm regularly conducts appraisals on many types of rental apartment properties, both existing and proposed new construction.

Owners, investors, attorneys, courts, financial institutions and local, state and federal tax authorities habitually rely upon our expert appraisal services for the purposes of financing, buying, selling, litigation, estate planning, divorce, settling partnership disputes/dissolution, HUD Section 8 mark-to-market rental studies and more.

Only a Illinois State Certified General Real Estate Appraiser has the required certification to perform an appraisal on a rental apartment building with five or more units, and all of our appraisers hold this certification. Our appraisers are experts in these types of appraisals, and have decades of specialized expertise in commercial real estate.

Required Documentation

During your free telephone consultation, your appraiser will discuss the details of your property, the type and projected use of the appraisal, the scope of work and the required format for your final appraisal report. Your appraiser may also advise you about key documentation pertaining to your property, including the current rent roll displaying the rent, square footage or room count of each unit, as well as expense reports and a copy of the contract of sale, if applicable, that will be needed as part of the appraisal process.

Your appraiser will then schedule a site visit to your property in order to conduct the appraisal. If any of your rental apartment units are subject to rent control, the appraiser will need to review documents detailing the legal amount of rent that may be collected for these units.

Your appraiser will also need to determine whether your property receives any tax abatements. If so, the tax abatement will affect the property's net income and therefore the value of the property.

Appraisal Methods

The income capitalization approach, including the direct capitalization method, is the method of choice for valuation of a rental apartment building or project, to address the unique income capabilities and expenses of the property. Whether your property has stabilized rents, free market rents or a combination of both, this method will provide the most accurate valuation of your property.

A less reliable approach to valuation of a rental apartment building or project is the sales comparison approach, which may be used as a backup in support of the valuation provided by the income approach. The unreliably varied income-to-expense ratios for comparable properties is what makes this approach inappropriate as a primary method of valuation.

For new construction projects, the cost approach may be applied as well, as a secondary indicator of the value of the rental apartment property.

Your appraiser can tailor your final appraisal report format to meet your specific needs and budget constraints, while still conforming to the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), as well as meeting the requirements of all applicable local, state and federal appraisal guidelines and regulations.

Call our office today for a complimentary telephone consultation with one of our apartment building appraisal experts.