Apartment Building Investments – Understanding Debt Service Coverage Ratio

As a commercial finance consultant I speak with new apartment building investors on a daily basis whom respond to one of my fliers or visit my website. Typically, here is how the conversation unfolds:

Investor: Hello Ted, my name is “first time apartment building investor” and I am calling because I was visiting your website and was interested in the loan program you are offering for multi-family properties.

Me: Great, tell me about the apartment building you are purchasing.

Investor: Well, I found this great 38 unit apartment building in Austin, Texas. My realtor told me that the gross income from the property is around $500,000.00 and the taxes are about $15,000.00. The asking price is $5,000,000.00. I am willing to put down 20% of my own money and I need a loan right away because the realtor said there are other serious buyers looking at the property. What do I need to get a loan on this building?

Me: Have you figured out what the DSCR for the property?

Investor: The what?

Me: The Debt Service Coverage Ratio is the number that banks look at to determine if the apartment building will pay for the property’s annual expenses and mortgage payments. DSCR is figured by dividing the (NOI) by the annual debt service of the property.

This is where I gently advise my potential client to perform more due diligence on the property by obtaining the income and expenses on the property for the past few years so that we can determine exactly what the net operating income is.

Here are how the property financials break down:

Gross Rents $500,000

Annual Gross Revenue $500,000

Minus 5% Vacancy Rate $25,000

Actual Gross Income $475,000

Real Estate Taxes $7,500

Insurance $2,500

Maintenance $2,500

Exterminator Service $2,500

Up Keep $2,500

Utilities $2,500

Off Site Management Fee 5% $25,000

Replacement Reserves

$200 Per Unit X 38 Units $7,500

Total Expenses For Operation $52,500

(NOI) Net Operating Income $422,500.00

The net income on this property includes all of the property expenses except for the monthly mortgage payments or “debt service”. The “debt service” is simply the principal and interest payment on the mortgage paid over a one year period of time.

Loan Amount: $4,000,000

Interest Rate: 7%

30 Year Term

Debt Service = $319,345.20

To figure out the DSCR, divide the NOI ($422,500.00) by the Debt Service ($319,345.20).

NOI $422,500.00/ Debt Service $319,345.20 = DSCR of 1.32

With a 20% buyer down payment this building has a DSCR of 1.32. This basically means that the building’s income will cover all of its expenses including the loan payments and show a profit. Banks are eager to lend money on a property like this. A DSCR number of 1.0 would indicate that the building is breaking even and a DSCR lower than 1.0 means that the building is losing money. Commercial lenders require that an apartment building have a DSCR of 1.2 or higher.

Armed with this information, the diligent investor is one step ahead of the herd. Preparing an accurate loan package is an essential ingredient to your success as an apartment building investor and calculating the DSCR early on in the process will save you a lot of time and headaches.

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