name: underwriting-research
description: Research the real-world assumptions behind a multifamily underwriting model — achievable rents, operating expenses, taxes, insurance, construction/hard costs, and available incentives. Use when the user says "check my assumptions," "what should I underwrite for," "research expenses/taxes/insurance/construction costs," or is building/sanity-checking a pro forma. Researches inputs; does not give investment advice.
Underwriting Research
Bristol builds its own financial models. This play researches and pressure-tests the assumptions that feed the model so they're grounded in market reality and sourced.
When to use
"What rents can we underwrite?", "research property taxes/insurance in [market]," "what are construction costs running?", "are these expense assumptions reasonable?", "any incentives available here?"
Assumption areas (research + cite each)
- Revenue — achievable market rents by unit type (pull from market-comp-analysis), realistic stabilized occupancy, loss-to-lease/concessions, other income (parking, pet, fees).
- Operating expenses — submarket OpEx benchmarks per unit; payroll, R&M, marketing, management fee, utilities, G&A.
- Property taxes — local rate/assessment methodology; how new construction is assessed; reassessment risk at stabilization. (Often a major swing factor — research carefully.)
- Insurance — current multifamily insurance cost trend in the market (rising fast in many regions; flag it).
- Construction / hard costs — current $/SF or $/unit ranges for the product type and region; cost trend; long-lead items.
- Soft costs & timing — typical soft-cost load, entitlement/permitting timeline, construction duration, lease-up pace.
- Capital markets context — prevailing construction debt terms and market exit cap rates for the product/market (for the yield-on-cost spread).
- Incentives — TIF, PILOT, tax abatement, opportunity zones, grants, or programs available at the site; eligibility and rough value.
Method
- For each assumption: give a researched range (low / base / high) with sources and dates, not a single guess.
- Compare to any numbers the user already has in their model; flag where their assumption looks aggressive or conservative versus the market, and why.
- Call out the 2–3 assumptions the deal is most sensitive to.
Output
- An assumptions memo saved to the deal folder: each input, the researched range, the source, and a flag (supports / stretch / risk).
- A short "watch these" list of the highest-sensitivity inputs.
Guardrails
- Research and ranges only — Bristol's analysts and principals make the calls. Don't present a recommendation to invest; present the facts to decide.
- Every number sourced + dated; label estimates; note when data is thin.
- Flag legal/tax/securities questions for the right professional.