When you buy a multi-family building, you are not really buying brick — you are buying the income stream. The rent roll is the document that describes it: one line per unit, showing who pays what. Reading one carefully takes ten minutes and can change your offer by six figures.
Current rent versus market rent
The most important comparison on the page. Current rent is what tenants pay today; market rent is what the unit would bring vacant. A building where every unit sits below market can be an opportunity — or a constraint, depending on lease terms and applicable regulations. Never assume you can simply move current rents to market rents; find out what governs each unit first.
Be most skeptical of the reverse situation: a rent roll showing every unit at or above market. Ask how long those tenants have been there and whether any are behind. Paper rent and collected rent are not the same number.
Vacancy, and what it is hiding
A vacant unit on a rent roll gets filled in with a projected rent — the seller's guess. Treat projections as marketing. Also ask why the unit is vacant: between tenants is normal; vacant for a year in a neighborhood with strong demand is a question that needs an answer.
From rent roll to NOI
Gross rent is the headline; net operating income is the truth. From total collected rent, subtract taxes, insurance, water and sewer, utilities you pay, maintenance, and a realistic vacancy allowance. What is left — the NOI — is what the building actually earns, and it is the number lenders and appraisers value the building on.
Multi-family listings on Homes District show the full unit table — beds, baths, current rent, market rent, and occupancy per unit — plus reported income and expenses with a computed NOI, so the analysis starts from the listing itself. Pressure-test the numbers with the deal analyzer before you write the offer.