Apartment Building Investments – Understanding Debt Service Coverage Ratio
Author: Ted Karsch • URL: http://www.apartmentbuildinginvestor.comMarch 10th, 2008 •
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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Joshua Dorkin
Charles Feldman

Ted Karsch.


Richard Warren
Ted - this is a great article. I am just now looking into getting more into the commercial side of real estate (having just completed by first commercial deal). Super info on this site - thanks,
Dania
[...] an investor, you should always be on the lookout for real estate investing opportunities. Every once in awhile, these opportunities might come your way easily, but for the [...]
The example states property taxes are $15,000 but in the calculations it changes to $7500 which will skew the results making the deal look better. Be careful when doing calculations and always be conservative.
Thanks for pointing that out MoneyMan. You are right! I’m glad someone is checking the math.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I appreciate it!
Your welcome… otherwise it’s an excellent article with many very good points!!!
Sell Austin Real Estate
November 19, 2007 Leaving NAR There was little evidence of the down market and recently cleaned up credit mess. Unlike the post dot- com boom EXPO of 2002, there were no empty booth spaces and few notable absences. In fact, the major lenders featured t…
how did ted arrive @ noi of $475,000 when the rent is $200 per unit times 38 units.I came up with 91,200 noi with the info just presented.
Hello David,
The NOI is stated above as: $422,500.00
The rent paid per unit is not given.
Sorry about that Ted.Thanks
Ted this article was really great about calculating the DSCR on a property I knew what it was, but you made it more crystal clear so far as how to calculate it. Thanks alot Quincy Lewis in Atlanta,GA.