Residential Rental Property Due Diligence Checklist Template (Free PDF Download)

The home inspection needs to be scheduled as soon as the purchase agreement is accepted.

Often, booking a good inspector or inspection company can take several business days, and buyers need to know exactly when the inspection will be completed.

If the inspector or company of choice cannot complete the inspection within the amount of time granted by the due diligence period, the buyer and seller will need to create an amendment to extend the period.

General home inspections can be invasive or non-invasive.

If a buyer wants to do something such as test for moisture behind exterior stucco walls or really inspect anything not visible to the eye, sellers must agree to allow an invasive home inspection to occur.

In a noninvasive home inspection, the inspector will normally look at the following (but you should always be sure to talk to them since practices and qualifications will vary by state):

• Roof
• HVAC, boiler, furnace and hot water heater
• Plumbing and electrical
• Major appliances
• Insulation
• Fireplaces or stoves
• Windows and doors
• Structural components such as floors, walls, stairs, ceilings
• Exterior components such as railings, stairs, siding, porches or decks and an exterior ground or water pooling areas

In addition to the normal home inspection, other inspections can also be ordered if a buyer is worried about any other issues that are not covered by the normal home inspection.

These additional inspections include:

• radon testing
• mold testing
• termite inspection
• lead paint testing and inspection
• sewer line inspection
• foundation inspection or other structural issue inspections
• asbestos inspection

Buyers should be aware that additional testing adds expense to the due diligence process. Not all single family home investors complete all these tests.

Some investors may add additional tests where they see fit based on the initial normal inspection results and recommendations.

Other investors may decide to always order all of the additional tests.

The inspection option selection will vary depending on an investor’s risk appetite or their willingness to engage in further negotiation if they are looking to leverage negative findings in the inspections to reduce the offer price.

Buyers often have the option to attend the inspections, and I would always recommend buyers or their agents attend the inspections to be fully engaged and aware of all the resulting findings.

There could be small things that could be picked up in person that an inspector might not document in a report.

If problems are discovered through the various inspections and the buyer wants the seller to make repairs or reduce the price, a separate amendment would then be added to the purchase agreement.

Negotiations would then occur until the contingency is removed, and if for some reason the buyer and seller cannot come to an agreement, the purchase agreement is canceled.

If the buyer and seller do come to an agreement, the contingency would be removed and the property would then be listed as a “pending” status.

The inspection is among the most important stages in the due diligence process because many things could be discovered.

A seller may simply not know about some things or may have not included them in the seller’s disclosure statement.

Imagine having a major issue such as a structural integrity problem with a basement wall only to find out about the issue after the purchase and then you learn it will cost 40,000.00 to fix.

This could be catastrophic for a newbie real estate investor.

What if a home has high levels of radon and the seller never finds out because they forgo a radon inspection?

The investor ends up moving in with a family who leases the property and then develops major health issues.

New investors might not want to get inspections done, but often leaving stones unturned is not the greatest way to ensure a proper risk mitigation strategy.

There are several different types of insurance to consider for real estate investors.

Let’s cover the basic types of insurance and establish when or why an investor might want to get coverage for certain risks that might present themselves.

1. Title Insurance

Title insurance protects a buyer from several issues that might arise after the purchase of their investment property including the following:

• Liens on the property that might have not been found by the title company upon searching public records.
• Forged or documents recorded with errors.
• Encroachments on the property, survey errors or boundary disputes.
• Will issues where heirs may have claims to the property.
• Claims by previous spouses who may have not signed off on the purchase agreement.
• Previous building code violations
• Errors on the deed

Title insurance generally does not cover issues that arise after the purchase of the property.

So if new liens are placed on the property due to nonpayment to contractors or failure to pay taxes, then the title insurance would not cover these issues.

Title insurance also does not prevent eminent domain or seizure by government municipalities.

2. Landlord Insurance

Landlord insurance is generally broken into property protection and liability protection, where property protection covers damage caused by hazards such as fire, lightning, or storm damage.

Other structures, such as garages, are also included in this policy type. Other equipment used to service the property might also be included.

Liability protection offers protection if someone is harmed on your property, and you are found responsible.

This would cover medical bills or other expenses that would be incurred by injury on the property.

3. Hazard Insurance

Hazard insurance can be purchased separately, under landlord insurance, or a blanket policy.

Again, hazard insurance protects the investor from damages caused by fire, lighting, and storms.

4. Sewer Backup Insurance

This type of insurance covers investors from damages that could be incurred by a sewer line backup.

Anyone who has experienced a sewer line backup knows it could be a small issue or a very large one.

If a sewer line is backed up for a period of time, especially if water is for some reason still running, it could result in flooding and extensive water damage on the mail level of an investment property.

Costs could include replacing flooring all the way to replacing full sections of walls, sheetrock, or even wood framing, depending on the extent of the damage.

Investors might want to consider this type of insurance if a sewer line inspection finds issues such as:

• breaks or cracks in the sewer line
• extensive tree roots or other obstructions that have intruded into the sewer line
• a history of backups in the area and the investment property is located at a low point in an area that could be more prone to water pooling or poor drainage.

5. Flood Insurance

Flood insurance would protect the investor from any flooding damage that might result from any situation other than a sewer line backup.

If the investment property is found to be in a flood zone area, the investor should highly consider purchasing a flood insurance plan from day one.

Tools such as the one created by FEMA can be used to check if an investment property is located in a floodplain area.

Local municipalities may also have their own maps regarding common flood zones/areas so investors need to incorporate this into their due diligence process.

6. Builders Insurance and General Contractor Insurance

Builders Insurance should be considered if an investor wants to hire a third-party contractor to make improvements or renovations to the investment property.

This insurance will cover the investor in the event the contractor or one of their workers is hurt while working on the property.

General Contractors Insurance should be considered if the investor themselves is also a general contractor.

Again, this policy would cover the investor in the event they are their own contractor and either themselves or another worker is hurt while working on the property.

7. Umbrella Insurance and Blanket Insurance

Investors should consider umbrella insurance if they own more than one investment property.

The umbrella policy is meant to cover a series of properties up to a predetermined blanket limit within the policy year.

Umbrella insurance meanwhile should be considered to increase a general liability policy coverage amount.

Any items covered by the general insurance policy will be bolstered with additional coverage, but items not covered by the general insurance policy would still not be covered.

8. General Liability Insurance

General liability insurance protects the investor from common issues such as theft, accidental injury, or costs or judgments associated with a lawsuit.

9. Loss of Income Insurance

Loss of Income Insurance protects the investor in the event their tenant in their investment property stops paying their rent.

Real estate investors need to become familiar with the tenants who might currently be residing in an investment property and become familiar with the lease they signed.

Lease covenants can vary widely from lease to lease and state to state. Investors should at least know the following regarding their leases.

We will assume the residents are under a current lease.

• When does the lease end?
• What is the current rent amount and security deposit?
• What is the required notice to vacate in the lease?
• What is the required state minimum to change rent or provide the resident with notice to vacate the property?
• Did the lease require the tenant to acquire renters’ insurance? If not, the investor should seek to make this a requirement to ensure that the residents’ personal possessions are covered in case of theft or loss.
• Which utilities did the lease make the tenant responsible for?
• Did the lease require the tenant to be responsible for maintenance of the property such as lawn care or snow removal and if so, was a discount provided from the rent and if so, how much?
• Did the lease include parking? If so, was an additional amount agreed to be paid for it or was it agreed to on a “first come — first serve” basis?
• Did the lease allow for pets and if so, which pets (dogs, cats or other animals)? Was an amount agreed to be paid for a pet rent or pet deposit?
• Does the lease allow the tenant to conduct a sublease or not? If they are able to sublease, did the lease provide a notice requirement?
• Does the lease reference a hold over fee? A hold over fee results when a resident doesn’t move out by the time they agreed to in the lease. If so, how much is the hold over fee?
• Was a late fee agreed to in the lease? If so, how much and when would the late fee kick in?
• Does the lease state what would happen upon the event of a natural disaster or property destruction? Most states allow residents to end their lease upon a natural disaster such as a flood, fire, tornado, hurricane or other natural disaster type of event but state laws do vary on this issue.

What type of lease was in place? Was it a gross lease, net lease or percentage lease? Depending on your real estate investing strategy, this could be important.

• Gross leases are the most common and are often used where the tenant pays for the rent and certain utilities while the owner pays for repairs, insurance, taxes, or certain utilities.

• Net leases are where the tenant pays for rent plus most other costs associated with the property such as repairs, taxes, and utilities. In a triple net lease, the tenant basically pays for everything other than common area maintenance. Net leases are more often used for large commercial or industrial property types.

• Percentage leases allow the tenant to pay a fixed rental fee which is normally less than a gross lease but then also pay a percentage of the gross income their business receives. The owner will normally pay for taxes, repairs, insurance, and maybe some utilities.

• Variable leases are normally separate into graduated leases or index leases. Graduated leases provide for specified rent increases set at future agreed to dates by the tenant and owner. Index leases allow rents to be changed upward or downward based on economic indicators such as the consumer price index.

Other, less common, lease types might include:

• ground leases where tenants lease ground rights separately from the physical property
• oil or gas leases used for oil exploration purposes
• lease to buy where a buyer might have not qualified for an initial purchase but will complete a purchase agreement and buy the property at a later time
• sale and leaseback where the original owner sells the property then decides to lease the property back from the new owner for a period of time.

With such a wide array of leases, lease options, and covenants, investors need to know the leases in place like the back of their hand to be sure a lease in place won’t disrupt their real estate investing exit strategy.

If investors have questions regarding lease types or their responsibilities under leases currently in place, they should be sure to have their real estate lawyers conduct a review of the leases on their behalf.

If the investment property is a part of an HOA, the investor will need to familiarize themselves with the HOA covenants, restrictions, and documents.

All HOAs incur some sort of monthly or annual fee so it is important to understand those costs and what they are paying for.

Some HOAs do not allow rentals. Others might not allow certain types of pets. Others might require owners to only use certain paint schemes or require owners to go through approval processes to make certain types of improvements.

Understanding the covenants and restrictions will help the investor to get a better lay of the land and avoid surprises later on.

Another thing the investor should do is familiarize themselves with the HOA meeting minutes.

Every HOA should be taking notes called minutes regarding the conversations and agendas that are approached during each HOA board meeting.

Reading all the minutes is important because it will allow the investor to better understand issues such as upcoming projects that may need to be paid for that might result in increased assessment costs.

It should also display the overall satisfaction level with the property management company the HOA works with.

• Are the board members complaining about things not being done in a timely fashion?
• Are board members concerned with any upcoming projects?
• Are the board members seemingly getting along with each other or do they seem argumentative and unable to make group decisions effectively?
• Are the board members referencing issues with any of the other residents that might conflict with your desired usage of the property for investment purposes?

Reading the meeting minutes will provide a lot of information that might not be found otherwise.

The investor will want to verify the square footage is accurate from the property listing.

Oftentimes the seller’s real estate agent will not conduct their own measurements and will take the square footage from the local city or county tax records.

They might then state in the original MLS listing language, along the lines, that the buyer’s agent is responsible for verifying the square footage noted is accurate.

The buyer should not rely on their agent to do this and should conduct their own measurements or hire a third party to conduct an official measurement if it appears the square footage is incorrect based on their own measurements.

As many investors know, records are not always accurate. While there is less likelihood, square footage measurements will be inaccurate with single family homes.

The likelihood of inaccurate information grows as the overall property structure size grows.

Sometimes a property square footage might be overstated, and if measurements can prove a property is smaller than documented in the original property listing, this would provide added leverage for the buyer in negotiations.

Other times, you might find a property is larger than documented. This might be a bonus selling point for a buyer because they might be realizing untapped equity that would be associated with a larger square footage property than originally documented.

Either way, it’s a good thing to conduct measurements regardless of property type, especially for larger commercial or industrial property types.

A survey might not be necessary if an investment property already has fencing or other clear indications of property lines such as recently placed stakes or posts.

However, if a property does not have fencing or other clear indications, which often happens when buying an abandoned house, it might be a good idea to hire a professional local property surveyor while in the due diligence period.

Again, if a survey should reveal lot parcel sizes are not accurate or smaller than indicated, this will provide negotiating leverage for the investor.

A survey would also help to quell any potential land issues like newly constructed encroachments on the property, such as fences or retaining walls, or quell other general land disputes.

Investors will want to review their good fair estimate of expenses which must be provided by the lender within 3 days of applying for a loan.

This estimate will include the total costs of financing and include the APR rate. Investors need to review this information to ensure they understand all the closing costs.

This also allows the investors to go shopping among other lenders who might have a lower APR.

An appraisal, like an inspection, is conducted by a qualified third party. All states require real estate appraisers to be licensed or certified, unlike home inspectors.

The appraiser is paid for by the buyer but hired by the lender. This is because the lender is the client of the appraiser. Buyers are provided a copy of the report.

The objective is to obtain the fair market value of the property, which is the most probable price the investment property would bring in the current real estate investment market in a fair sale.

The buyer wants the property to appraise at or above the sale value to ensure the lender’s “condition of value” has been met.

If the appraisal comes in below the sale value, then the purchase agreement could be canceled, the buyer could cover the difference with cash or the appraisal could be appealed.

Once the appraisal is completed, the loan can go to underwriting where the lender may place additional conditions upon the buyer for loan approval.

In the pre-offer due diligence period, you should have already conducted a basic financial analysis, which is a crucial step in the process of buying a rental property.

You will now need to redo the financial analysis against the seller’s actual financial statements to determine if your financial analysis is accurate.

You should be asking for the following items:

• trailing 12 month financials
• last 3 years of rent rolls
• last 3 years of income statements, expense reports, profit and loss statements
• last 3 years of capital expenditure costs
• last 3 years of repair expenses or repair log entries
• worst year financials since seller owned the property
• pro-forma adjusted with up-to-date property taxes

Investors should make sure numbers being presented are not all ending in rounded numbers. You need to be looking at real numbers, not estimates or rounded numbers.

Investors will want to go through the rent rolls to ensure occupancy levels have been steady over the past several years.

If the property had a higher level of vacancies in the past but is suddenly at a higher level just recently, the seller could be trying to get people in to boost their numbers because they know it will bolster better looking numbers in the pro-forma and increase a potential sales price.

The rent rolls will also indicate the security deposit amounts that would need to be forwarded to you as well as when the leases will expire.

Investors should watch for any long-term leases that might last for more than two years as well as when the leases end.

It would be preferable for a majority of leases to not all end at the same time. This would increase risk from a leasing standpoint.

You’d rather not have to fill half of your units at once, especially if that time of the year might be off season in your local market.

Investors need to recalculate the 5 calculations for income analysis.

They should also throw three calculations into the income analysis to ensure they are covering all their bases and making sure financials are to their liking.

1. Calculate the Debt Coverage Ratio (DCR)

The Debt Coverage Ratio measures the investment property’s ability to cover the debt service.

DCR= annual NOI / annual debt service

For example, a property has an annual NOI of $115,000.00 and an annual debt service of $95,000.00.

$115,000 / $95,000 = 1.21

Investors would like to see a number above 1 here, the higher the better.

Most of the time it would be recommended to avoid deals that do not meet at least a 1.2 DCR in case of a worse case scenario.

Maybe occupancy rates decrease or expenses increase. This would reduce the NOI and thus reduce the DCR.

A DCR of at least 1.2 provides a bit of a buffer for the investor to run into some potential problems and still be able to service the debt via income of the property rather than have to dive into savings or accrue other lines of credit or loans to pay the debt service.

2. Calculate the Exit Cap Rate (ECR)

The ECR is the market cap rate after your planned holding period. Essentially, this calculation’s purpose is to estimate the future sale value upon your exit period which could mean re-financing or an outright sale of the property.

The market cap rate is the cap rate average of the immediate local market the investment property is located in.

This is found by taking an average of several buildings that have recently sold in the area.

The market cap rate is not the cap rate of the specific deal or this specific piece of investment property.

ECR= annual NOI/ market cap rate

So let’s say, for example, you plan to purchase an investment property for $1,200,000 and the market cap rate at that time is 6% and you plan to hold the property for a period of 7 years before selling it.

You estimate at that time the NOI would be $100,000 and a market cap rate of 6%

Therefore ECR= $100,000/ .06

ECR= $1,666,666

Now let’s say you purchase the property and you are in year 7 and your NOI projection of $100,000 is accurate.

The property has an NOI of $100,000, however your projection on the market cap rate was wrong and instead of it being 6% the market cap rate is actually 7%.

Therefore ECR= $100,000/ .07

ECR = $1,428,571

You see, just off a 1% difference in the market cap rate you could have a difference of $238,095 in the future resale price of the property after 7 years.

Ultimately being able to project future market cap rates effectively again depends on the investor’s knowledge of the current market conditions as well as headwinds or tailwinds that the local market could be facing in the near future.

If things go downhill in the area and market cap rates jump up, appreciation in the property will not be as great as if the area improves and market cap rates fall.

Then the future resale price would be higher and therefore make the deal more profitable and more likely to experience accelerated appreciation.

This oftentimes is why investors say it’s better to purchase the uglier house in a nicer neighborhood or for investing purposes, possibly purchase class B structures located in class A neighborhoods or possibly even class C structures in class B neighborhoods.

3. Calculate the Breakeven Occupancy Point (BOP)

The Breakeven Occupancy Point is the actual physical occupancy percentage that is required to break even on the investment property.

In order words, how full the building has to be in order to break even or meet all debt service and expense requirements.

Below the breakeven point, investors would find themselves in a negative cash flow situation.

This calculation also serves to indicate how much risk might be in a deal.

Obviously keeping a building completely full with zero occupancy is not an easy task, and investors should never be making calculations with a zero percent vacancy rate in mind.

The higher the BOP the higher the level of risk in the deal because there is less room for error when it comes to how full the building must be to meet its breakeven point.

BOP= annual operating expenses + annual debt service / gross potential income

So, let’s say for instance, your potential deal has annual operating expenses of $100,000 and annual debt service of $95,000. The gross potential income is $270,000.

Therefore BOP= $100,000 + $95,000 / $240,000

BOP = 81.25%

Therefore, the building must be at least 82% full just to meet its breakeven point.

Any occupancy level higher than 82% should indicate the building is producing cash flow and any level below 82% would indicate negative cash flow.

So how risky is this deal? Well, it again probably depends on the location and immediate area the building is located in.

Keeping 8 of every 10 apartments full in a good area could be easy while keeping 8 of 10 full in a not-so great area could be incredibly difficult. So again, it pays to know your local market.

Another calculation investors would want to make would be the price per unit which is simply the sales price divided by the number of units.

This will give a quick cost per door of the investment property. Again, knowing your market would allow an investor to know roughly the cost per door of comparable investment properties in the area.

These calculations may seem daunting, but it’s one of the most important components of your due diligence. If you are unsure of whether or not you are doing it right, seek advice from professional real estate investment consultants in your area.

Check zoning rules and classifications and ask for a 5 or 10 year plan.

First investors will want to verify which type their potential investment property is classified as and if the current classification has the ability to change to another classification type.

For instance, an investor might be thinking of buying a large single family residential home in hopes of converting it into a duplex.

Or possibly the property is a duplex and they are thinking about adding a third finished unit into a basement.

Or perhaps the investor wants to convert a large single-family home into a mixed-use property featuring commercial offices or retail space on the first floor and a residential living unit on the second floor.

Investors need to know if the zoning department and zoning classifications will allow them to use the property for their deemed best usage scenario.

Investors should also ask the zoning department if they have a 5 or 10 year plan that they could be given.

Often zoning departments already have plans for certain areas within their municipality.

It would be good for investors to understand how their plan would affect their neighborhood and therefore the potential impact on their investment property.

If the seller is using a property management company, you should get copies of the property management agreement.

Investors should review the property management agreement to determine the costs associated with the selected management company as well as understand the vendors the company utilizes.

This information can be helpful to shop around for other management companies or show the amount of money they might be able to save should the investor elect to self-manage the property.

The management agreement should entail:

• monthly service costs
• commissions
• vendor usage and costs
• amount of time required to cancel the agreement
• any potential fees of early cancellation
• fees for administrative tasks or after-hours emergency responses.

If the property is currently owner managed, ask the owner for a list of their preferred vendors that they call for different services such as plumbing, electrical, roofing, boilers, HVAC, general maintenance, etc.

If the owner is self-managing the property and has built a network of reliable service providers, why go through the hassle of building a separate vendor network yourself?

Take advantage of their contacts and let the vendors know you’d be glad to keep them as long as you like what you hear from the owner and residents regarding the costs of their services and the overall level of customer service/satisfaction.

You will need to talk to the property manager if you are considering taking over the contract. Prepare a list of questions to ask them beforehand.

Sellers may or may not have plans or blueprints for multifamily investment properties. There is a high likelihood they will have them for commercial real estate.

Either way, investors need to ask for this information. You never know: if you ask for it after closing, you can discover that the seller has thrown them away thinking they were no longer needed.

Any sort of warranty documents should be reviewed whether they be for a heating or cooling system, a recent roof installation, solar panels, elevators, etc.

The investor will want to know how much longer the warranty on any physical items or services performed are good.

This way, they can begin to think about budget creation for the maintenance or replacement of those things no longer covered by a warranty.

Not every investor seeks to interview residents in the property, but they should. If the seller seems weary to allow you to speak with the current residentsб this could be a potential red flag.

You want to be proactive in understanding the situation from the resident’s point of view because they might very well know things the seller doesn’t know.

If there is a problem in their unit or something that needs to be fixed in the building, they will likely know about it and won’t be afraid to share the information with you.

If for some reason you are unable to interview the tenants in person, you should at very least put out a survey or questionnaire and ask them to send it back to you and provide a small incentive for them to facilitate their engagement and elicit their feedback.

Ask the tenants if they could change anything about their unit or building, what would it be and why?

You’d be surprised what might come back just by asking basic questions about their overall experience and things they like or might want to change.

Download the full residential real estate due diligence checklist template in PDF. It covers both the pre-offer and post-offer procedures in one document.