01Owners and investors
Valuation and market research
Broker opinions of value, market studies and quarterly submarket fundamentals.
Practice detailHow it works
We underwrite the asset the way a buyer's analyst will, fix what can be fixed before it goes out, then run a competitive process with a real call for offers date.
A disposition is won or lost in the eight weeks before the listing goes live. Estoppels, a clean rent roll, three years of reconciled operating expenses, roof and mechanical documentation, and a defensible argument for every dollar of pro forma income you are asking a buyer to pay for.
We underwrite each asset at the start: in-place net operating income, the mark to market on below market leases, a realistic reserve for capital, and the cap rate the last four comparable trades actually cleared at rather than the one the ownership remembers from 2021.
Then we run a process. A broad confidential marketing campaign, a data room that answers questions before they are asked, and a call for offers date that turns interest into pricing.
What the assignment includes
- 01
Underwriting and broker opinion of value
In-place and stabilised net operating income, the capital reserve, the mark to market, and a value range against recent comparable trades.
- 02
Pre-market preparation
Rent roll audit, estoppel collection, expense reconciliation, service contract review and building documentation.
- 03
Offering memorandum and data room
A document that answers a buyer analyst's questions, with the lease abstracts and the operating history behind it.
- 04
Buyer canvass
Local private capital, regional syndicators, 1031 exchange buyers under a deadline, and institutional groups where the size supports it.
- 05
Call for offers and buyer selection
A dated process, then a recommendation weighted on price, deposit structure, financing contingency and closing certainty.
- 06
Closing management
Due diligence coordination, estoppel and subordination chasing, lender appraisal support and the closing statement.
The sequence
- 01
Underwrite
Two to three weeks. Net operating income, reserve, mark to market, value range.
- 02
Prepare
Four to six weeks. Rent roll, estoppels, expenses, documentation, data room.
- 03
Market
Three to four weeks of confidential campaign before the call for offers.
- 04
Call for offers
A dated deadline, then best and final with the top two or three.
- 05
Contract
Two to three weeks to a signed purchase agreement with the deposit hard on a schedule.
- 06
Close
Thirty to sixty days depending on financing and the depth of due diligence.
Why clients keep us on retainer
- 1Underwritten before it is listed, so surprises surface on your timeline, not the buyer's
- 2A dated call for offers rather than an open ended negotiation with one party
- 3Buyer selection weighted on closing certainty, not just the headline number
- 41031 exchange timing managed against the 45 and 180 day clocks
Questions we get asked
More across the whole firm on the questions page.
In-place net operating income divided by the cap rate the comparable set has actually traded at, adjusted for lease term remaining, tenant credit, deferred capital and the mark to market on below market leases. We show the arithmetic, including the assumptions we are least confident in.
It depends on the spread between the value you create per leased square foot and the carrying cost plus the leasing cost. For a small multi tenant asset the arithmetic often favours selling with the vacancy and letting the buyer underwrite the upside. For a single tenant asset it almost never does.
Most often: an expense reconciliation the tenants never signed off, a roof with less life than the ownership believes, an environmental Phase I recommending a Phase II on a historical dry cleaner or fuelling use, and a survey that finds an encroachment nobody had noticed.
Yes. Acquisition assignments run the same underwriting in reverse: sourcing, a value opinion before the offer, due diligence management and a re-trade argument built on documented findings rather than on a change of heart.
Related practices
02Owners and investors
Landlord representation
Positioning, pricing and absorption for office, industrial and retail assets.
Practice detail03Owners and investors
Tell us the requirement
Size, timing, the constraint you cannot move. We will say honestly whether we are the right firm for it.