A rent roll tells you what a property is supposedly collecting. It does not tell you what is collectible, what is about to walk, or what a new owner actually inherits. We go through the rent roll line by line before any Long Island property gets treated as a real replacement candidate, and we do it early enough in the identification window that a bad rent roll does not eat one of your limited slots or your time.
Lease Dates And Rollover
We map every lease's start date, term, and renewal option against your expected hold period. A rent roll can look fully occupied and still have half the building rolling over in the first two years of ownership.
That is a different investment than one with leases locked five years out, even at the same headline rent. We build a simple rollover schedule by year so the exposure is visible at a glance rather than buried in a column of dates nobody actually cross-references, and we walk that schedule through with you directly before recommending the property move forward on your identification list.
What The Rent Roll Does Not Show
Standard rent roll exports leave out details that change the real income picture.
- tenants in arrears or on a payment plan
- rent concessions or free-rent periods still running
- security deposits actually held versus what the lease requires
- related-party or family leases priced below market
- tenants who have given informal notice not yet reflected in writing
We ask for the aged receivables report and bank deposit history alongside the rent roll, because the rent roll alone is marketing material dressed up as a financial document. Bank deposits that run consistently below the rent roll's stated collections tell us more about real income than any spreadsheet the seller hands over, and we flag that gap in plain numbers rather than letting it sit buried in a footnote.
Tenant Concentration
On smaller Long Island multifamily and retail buildings, it is common for one or two tenants to make up a large share of total rent. We flag that concentration explicitly, because losing one tenant in a twelve-unit building or a four-tenant strip center moves income a lot more than the same loss would in a two hundred unit complex.
We run the numbers both ways: income with the largest tenant in place, and income if that tenant leaves at the end of its current term. A property that only works financially with every tenant staying is a riskier replacement than the rent roll alone suggests, and we say so directly instead of letting a strong headline occupancy figure paper over that risk before you commit an identification slot to it.
Property Tax Line Reset After Sale
Nassau and Suffolk assessors can reassess a property based on the sale price, which changes the expense side of the rent roll model after closing even if nothing else moves.
We run the rent roll against a post-sale tax estimate rather than the seller's trailing tax bill alone, before recommending the property for identification, and we bring that estimate to the lender's attention directly so the debt sizing reflects the real future expense rather than a number that quietly goes stale the day the sale records.
Getting Everyone The Same Numbers
Property managers, the buyer's lender, and the client's CPA all need to underwrite from the same verified rent roll, not three different versions pulled at different times. We circulate one confirmed version once arrears, concessions, and deposits are checked, so the exchange model and the loan application match.
Any time the rent roll changes materially, a tenant moves out or renews at a new rate, we redistribute the updated version immediately rather than letting the original document sit uncorrected in someone's inbox. On a deal with a short runway left in the exchange, a stale rent roll circulating even a few days after a tenant change can cause a lender's underwriting to miss a real shift in income, which is a mistake worth avoiding entirely.
Common 1031 Exchange Questions
How far back should you check a tenant's payment history?
At minimum the trailing twelve months, and longer if the tenant has a history of late or partial payments that a single year might not show clearly.
What if the seller will not provide the aged receivables report?
That is a warning sign, and we tell clients so directly. A seller confident in the rent roll usually hands over supporting documentation without much resistance.
Does a high-occupancy rent roll mean the property is a safe replacement?
Not by itself. Occupancy does not tell you about lease term, tenant credit, or how much of that rent is collectible on time. We look at all of it together before calling a property ready for the identification list.
Can rent roll problems affect your exchange timeline?
Yes. If diligence turns up arrears or vacancy issues after a property is already identified, you may need to fall back on other properties on your list, which is why we push to review the rent roll before the property gets identified, not after.
Who should review the rent roll besides you?
Your lender will underwrite it independently, and your CPA should see it before you finalize numbers for basis and debt replacement planning.
