Broker Opinion of Value: How BOVs Price Apartment Buildings

By Skyline Capital Investments · Updated October 28, 2026 · 7 min read

What is a broker opinion of value?

A broker opinion of value is a broker’s estimate of a property’s likely sale price, prepared for the owner, usually at no charge and usually as part of a listing presentation. For an apartment building it reads like a short underwriting package: a rent roll summary, an operating statement, comparable sales, rent comps and a value range.

A BOV has no required format, and it isn’t an appraisal. Our apartment building appraisal guide covers USPAP, lender rules and how appraisers reconcile the three approaches. This page is about reading the broker’s version and putting it to good use.

BOV vs appraisal vs CMA vs BPO

All four of these reports estimate value, but different people build them for different readers. A CMA and a BPO are mostly residential tools, while a BOV is the commercial broker’s version for income property.

How brokers build a multifamily BOV

A multifamily BOV starts with the building’s income, not its square footage. The broker works out what the building earns, picks a cap rate the market would pay for that income, and then checks the answer against recent sales.

• Rent roll: current rents, lease dates and vacancies, unit by unit.
• Rent comps: what similar units nearby lease for, to judge loss-to-lease.
• Operating statement: the trailing 12 months of income and expenses (the T-12).
• NOI: effective gross income minus operating expenses, before debt service.
• Cap rate: drawn from recent sales of similar buildings and current buyer demand.
• Sales comps: price per unit and price per square foot as a sanity check.
• Value range: often a list price, an expected price and a floor.

Pro forma vs actual: where BOVs split apart

The biggest reason two BOVs disagree is which NOI they capitalize. An actual NOI uses what the building collected and spent over the last 12 months. A pro forma NOI assumes rents pushed to market, tighter vacancy and trimmed expenses, so it shows what a new owner might earn after doing that work.

Pro forma numbers aren’t wrong, but buyers don’t pay full price for upside they have to create themselves. Lenders size loans on in-place income, so the DSCR a buyer can get is tied to actual NOI. Watch the expense line too. A BOV that leaves out the property tax reassessment after a sale, or uses an expense ratio well below the building’s history, is pricing a different building.

Worked example: comparing two BOVs on a 24-unit building

Suppose two brokers price the same 24-unit building. Broker A uses pro forma rents of $1,575 a month, 3% vacancy, $14,400 of other income and $165,000 of expenses, then applies a 5.75% cap rate. That’s $289,392 of NOI and a value of about $5,033,000, or roughly $209,700 a unit.

Broker B uses actual rents averaging $1,450, 5% vacancy, the same other income and $178,000 of expenses, including the tax increase a buyer would face, at a 6.25% cap rate. That’s $233,120 of NOI and a value of $3,729,920, or about $155,400 a unit.

The gap is $1,302,984. Run Broker B’s actual NOI at Broker A’s 5.75% cap rate and you get $4,054,261, so about $324,341 of the gap comes from the cap rate and about $978,643 comes from the NOI assumptions. That split tells you which questions to ask each broker.

How to judge whether a BOV is realistic

Judge a BOV by its evidence, not its number. Some brokers deliver a high BOV to win the listing and then ask for price cuts once the property has sat. That’s a real risk, and it costs you time on market and a stale listing that buyers notice.

A credible BOV shows its work. It names the sales comps with dates and price per unit, explains why its cap rate fits your building, separates in-place income from upside, and tells you what the property would trade for as-is today.

When two BOVs land far apart, ask each broker to rerun its numbers using the other’s NOI or cap rate. A broker who stands behind the number will gladly walk you through the math. One who can’t explain the gap is telling you how much weight the BOV deserves.

• Does the NOI match your T-12, and if not, is every change explained?
• Are the sales comps closed sales, not listings, from the last year or so?
• Does the cap rate account for age, condition, location and rent control?
• Are property taxes re-figured at the new sale price?
• What price would the broker sign up for as a floor, not just a list price?

When should an owner ask for a BOV?

Ask for a BOV when you’re deciding whether to sell, not after you’ve decided. A good one helps you weigh selling against holding, refinancing or a cash-out refinance, and it gives partners a shared starting number before a buyout conversation.

A BOV is the wrong tool when someone else has to rely on the value. Lenders want an appraisal, estate and gift tax returns are usually backed by a qualified appraisal, and courts in a partition or divorce typically expect one too. If you’re planning a 1031 exchange, though, a BOV is a quick way to estimate your sale price and how much replacement property you’ll need.

Timing matters too. A BOV is a snapshot of rents, cap rates and buyer demand on the day it was written, so one that’s more than a few months old in a changing market is worth refreshing before you set a list price.

What is a pocket listing?

A pocket listing is a property a broker has the right to sell but doesn’t put into the MLS or market broadly. Owners choose it for privacy, to avoid unsettling tenants or staff, or to quietly test a price with a few buyers first.

The trade-off is exposure. Fewer buyers can mean less competition, so a pocket listing works best when the broker really does know the likely buyers, or when speed and discretion matter more to you than squeezing out the last dollar.

The Clear Cooperation Policy and the 2025 seller options

NAR’s Clear Cooperation Policy requires a listing broker to put a listing into the MLS within one business day of marketing it to the public, in MLSs run by REALTOR associations. It covers the property types each MLS requires participants to submit, and many MLSs limit those to residential types, often up to four units, so check your local MLS rules for a 5+ unit building.

On March 25, 2025, NAR added a policy called Multiple Listing Options for Sellers, which MLSs had to implement by September 30, 2025. It created delayed marketing exempt listings, which stay visible to MLS participants while the seller delays IDX and syndication for a period each MLS sets, and it requires a signed seller disclosure for both delayed marketing and office exclusive listings. NAR kept the one-business-day rule in place.

Selling off market instead of listing

Selling off market means selling directly to one buyer or a short list of buyers without a public listing. For an apartment owner, that can mean less disruption for tenants, less information about your building circulating, and a closing timeline you control.

A BOV is still useful here, because it gives you a benchmark to measure a direct offer against. Our guide to selling an apartment building off market covers how to vet buyers, what documents to share and when an off-market sale makes sense.

How this works for a 5+ unit apartment building

Buyers of 5+ unit buildings price them on NOI and cap rate, so a BOV for an apartment building lives or dies on its operating numbers. Before you request BOVs, pull together a current rent roll, a T-12, a list of capital work done and any violations or pending repairs.

Ask at least two brokers, and give each one the same package. Compare their NOI lines side by side, as in the example above, before you compare their prices. If you’re weighing a 1031 exchange or seller financing, tell the brokers up front, because terms and timing can matter as much as price.

Get a direct offer from Skyline to compare

Skyline Capital Investments buys 5+ unit apartment buildings nationwide, and a direct offer is a useful check on any BOV because it’s a price a buyer is actually willing to close on. We can buy as-is, offer seller financing terms and work within your 1031 exchange timeline.

Send the address and unit count through the form on this page, or call (469) 660-2977. We typically respond within 48 hours.