Rent Roll Interview Questions: How REPE Interviewers Read Occupancy and Rent

The rent roll is the source document behind multifamily and many commercial underwritings. Interviewers use it to see whether you can turn unit-level noise into NOI risk. If you only memorize "GPR minus vacancy," you will miss concentration, rollover, and loss-to-lease questions.

The short answer

"I reconcile unit count and occupancy, separate in-place rent from market rent, map lease expirations, flag concessions and non-revenue units, then build GPR and a vacancy / loss-to-lease view that feeds NOI. Occupancy alone is not underwriting."

What a rent roll is

A rent roll lists tenants or units with rent, square footage or beds, lease start / end, and sometimes deposits or concessions. For multifamily it is often unit-by-unit. For office or industrial it is tenant-by-tenant with SF and lease terms.

Questions you will get

1) Walk me through how you use a rent roll

"I reconcile unit count and occupancy, separate in-place rent from market rent, map lease expirations, flag concessions and non-revenue units, then build GPR and a vacancy / loss-to-lease view that feeds NOI."

2) In-place vs market rent

Loss-to-Lease ≈ (Market Rent − In-Place Rent) × Occupied Units
(only where market > in-place; define annual vs monthly consistently)

3) Vacancy: physical vs economic

Physical vacancy is empty units. Economic vacancy includes concessions, discounts, and sometimes non-revenue units. Interviewers care that you do not double count vacancy if the roll already nets some of it.

Worked mini rent roll

Quick read:

• 75% occupied (3/4)
• Unit 101: clear loss-to-lease and near-term rollover
• Unit 104: slight gain-to-lease; renewal risk
• Unit 103: vacant; downtime and lease-up cost in the model

Narrate the cash timing: Unit 101 can mark to market soon if it renews or turns, but turns cost downtime and CapEx. Unit 104 looks strong on in-place rent until renewal, when market may clip the rent. Vacant Unit 103 is not free upside: it is a lease-up budget.

Rollover risk

Bunching of expirations in one year is a cash flow event, not a footnote. Ask:

• How many SF or units roll in the next 12 months?
• Are renewals assumed at market, in-place, or a blend?
• What downtime and TI / LC (commercial) sit in CapEx?

Commercial rent roll extras

For office / industrial / retail:

• Tenant credit and industry concentration
• Expense stops / NNN vs gross leases (who pays opex)
• Options, termination rights, co-tenancy (retail)
• WALT (weighted average lease term)

A 40% tenant is a bid-level risk even at 95% occupancy. Credit and renewal probability matter as much as the rent PSF line.

How this feeds NOI

Verbal drills

1. "This roll shows 95% occupancy but 20% of leases expire in 90 days. What do you underwrite?"
2. "Market rent is 8% above in-place. How fast do you take that in the model?"
3. "One tenant is 40% of SF. How does that change your bid?"

30-second verbal

"A rent roll is the unit-level or tenant-level source for occupancy, in-place vs market rent, concessions, and lease expirations. I turn that into GPR, vacancy, and loss-to-lease timing before I trust NOI. High occupancy with a rollover cliff or a concentrated tenant is still a risk story."

Practice

Print or export a sample roll (or use Project Sunbelt assumptions). Spend ten minutes writing risks before touching cap rate. Then read Loss-to-Lease Underwriting and exit vs going-in cap.