Disciplined acquisition underwriting separates institutional NYC commercial real estate buyers from retail bidders. A good underwrite produces a single number — the price at which the deal hits the buyer's target return given a defensible base case — and a structured sensitivity table that maps the downside cases.
Rent Roll Audit
Start with the rent roll, not the OM. Audit every lease against the actual document: term, base rent, escalations, operating expense pass-throughs, tenant improvement allowances, and lease commission balances. For Manhattan multifamily, cross-check DHCR registration data on every rent-stabilized unit — declared rents on the seller's rent roll routinely overstate legal collectible rent. Skyline has caught $5M+ discrepancies between OM and DHCR on Manhattan rent-stabilized portfolios.
OpEx Normalization
Trailing-12 OpEx is the floor, not the underwrite. Add back any non-recurring items (one-time legal, hurricane repairs) and add forward-looking obligations the seller hasn't recognized — Local Law 11 cycles, Local Law 97 emissions penalties through 2030, RPIE/TC litigation reserves, and replacement reserves for elevators, roofs, HVAC. For Class B and C Manhattan office, LL97 alone can add $3-8/SF/year by 2030.
Cap Rate Triangulation
Triangulate the going-in cap rate from three sources: recent ACRIS comps in the same submarket and asset class, current bid-ask intelligence from the active broker network, and DCF residual yield. Skyline maintains live ACRIS-sourced comp sets for every Manhattan submarket and shares them confidentially with serious buyers on the firm's mandate list.
- Always model the buyer's actual return — IRR on equity, equity multiple, average annual yield — not the seller's "stabilized cap rate."
- Stress capex against actual building condition surveys, not deferred maintenance schedules.
- Underwrite the exit cap 50-100 bps wider than going-in unless you have a defensible thesis for cap compression.
- For conversion candidates, run the residual analysis post-467-m abatement; pre-abatement numbers don't reflect the actual economics.
Robert Khodadadian and Skyline Properties have run acquisition underwriting on the $135M 6 East 43rd Street Vanbarton conversion, the $105M 101 Greenwich Street trade to Quantum Pacific + Metro Loft, and dozens of multifamily and ground-lease transactions across Manhattan and Brooklyn. Email info@skylineprp.com for a confidential underwriting review on a specific candidate.