Seller doesn't want to provide schedule E for 8 unit building,

[Nazz Wang]

Hi BP community, I am negotiating a purchase for a 8 unit building, 2 stores and 6 apartments, and the seller does not want to provide schedule E for 2 years for the building. They had agreed to provide all leases and vendor contracts, and estoppel letters. What are the possible reasons for this, and what are the possible negative outcomes of me just doing my underwriting very very conservatively?

[Jean Bolger]

They may be doing something hinky on their taxes by over-reporting expenses, and they don't want you to see it because 1) they are doing something hinky on their taxes and 2) if you base your calculations off of those figures they'll never get their asking price.

I had one place I looked at where the seller did provide sched E's that claimed that the property had lost 10k a year for a while. But he was asking 500k. Go figure...

You'll probably just have to do a bunch of research on your own