To construct a successful property portfolio, you need to pick the right residential or commercial properties to buy. Among the most convenient methods to screen residential or commercial properties for revenue capacity is by determining the Gross Rent Multiplier or GRM. If you learn this basic formula, you can evaluate rental residential or commercial property deals on the fly!

What is GRM in Real Estate?

Gross lease multiplier (GRM) is a screening metric that permits financiers to quickly see the ratio of a property investment to its annual rent. This estimation offers you with the variety of years it would consider the residential or commercial property to pay itself back in collected rent. The greater the GRM, the longer the payoff duration.

How to Calculate GRM (Gross Rent Multiplier Formula)

Gross rent multiplier (GRM) is amongst the easiest computations to perform when you're evaluating possible rental residential or commercial property financial investments.

GRM Formula

The GRM formula is basic: Residential or commercial property Value/Gross Rental Income = GRM.

Gross rental earnings is all the income you gather before considering any costs. This is NOT revenue. You can just determine earnings once you take expenditures into account. While the GRM calculation works when you wish to compare similar residential or commercial properties, it can also be used to figure out which financial investments have the most prospective.

GRM Example

Let's state you're taking a look at a turnkey residential or commercial property that costs $250,000. It's anticipated to bring in $2,000 monthly in lease. The yearly rent would be $2,000 x 12 = $24,000. When you consider the above formula, you get:

With a 10.4 GRM, the benefit period in rents would be around 10 and a half years. When you're attempting to identify what the ideal GRM is, make certain you just compare similar residential or commercial properties. The ideal GRM for a single-family residential home may vary from that of a multifamily rental residential or commercial property.

Trying to find low-GRM, high-cash flow turnkey rentals?

GRM vs. Cap Rate

Gross Rent Multiplier (GRM)

Measures the return of a financial investment residential or commercial property based on its annual leas.

Measures the return on a financial investment residential or commercial property based on its NOI (net operating income)

Doesn't take into consideration expenditures, jobs, or mortgage payments.

Considers expenses and jobs however not mortgage payments.

Gross lease multiplier (GRM) measures the return of an investment residential or commercial property based upon its yearly lease. In comparison, the cap rate measures the return on an investment residential or commercial property based on its net operating income (NOI). GRM does not consider expenses, jobs, or mortgage payments. On the other hand, the cap rate elements costs and jobs into the equation. The only expenditures that shouldn't be part of cap rate calculations are mortgage payments.

The cap rate is calculated by dividing a residential or commercial property's NOI by its value. Since NOI represent costs, the cap rate is a more precise method to examine a residential or commercial property's success. GRM just thinks about rents and residential or commercial property value. That being said, GRM is substantially quicker to determine than the cap rate given that you need far less info.

When you're browsing for the right investment, you must compare several residential or commercial properties against one another. While cap rate estimations can assist you get an accurate analysis of a residential or commercial property's capacity, you'll be tasked with estimating all your costs. In comparison, GRM computations can be performed in simply a few seconds, which ensures efficiency when you're assessing various residential or commercial properties.

Try our complimentary Cap Rate Calculator!

When to Use GRM for Real Estate Investing?

GRM is an excellent screening metric, implying that you need to utilize it to quickly examine many residential or commercial properties at the same time. If you're attempting to narrow your options among ten readily available residential or commercial properties, you may not have enough time to perform numerous cap rate computations.

For example, let's state you're purchasing an investment residential or commercial property in a market like Huntsville, AL. In this location, numerous homes are priced around $250,000. The average rent is nearly $1,700 monthly. For that market, the GRM may be around 12.2 ($ 250,000/($ 1,700 x 12)).

If you're doing fast research on numerous rental residential or commercial properties in the Huntsville market and discover one specific residential or commercial property with a 9.0 GRM, you might have discovered a cash-flowing diamond in the rough. If you're taking a look at two similar residential or commercial properties, you can make a direct comparison with the gross lease multiplier formula. When one residential or commercial property has a 10.0 GRM, and another features an 8.0 GRM, the latter likely has more capacity.

What Is a "Good" GRM?

There's no such thing as a "great" GRM, although lots of financiers shoot between 5.0 and 10.0. A lower GRM is normally related to more money circulation. If you can earn back the price of the residential or commercial property in simply five years, there's a great chance that you're receiving a large quantity of rent on a monthly basis.

However, GRM just functions as a comparison between lease and price. If you remain in a high-appreciation market, you can manage for your GRM to be higher because much of your earnings lies in the possible equity you're constructing.

Searching for cash-flowing investment residential or commercial properties?

The Advantages and disadvantages of Using GRM

If you're trying to find ways to examine the viability of a property financial investment before making an offer, GRM is a fast and easy calculation you can perform in a couple of minutes. However, it's not the most comprehensive investing tool at your disposal. Here's a more detailed look at some of the benefits and drawbacks associated with GRM.

There are many reasons that you should use gross rent multiplier to compare residential or commercial properties. While it shouldn't be the only tool you use, it can be extremely effective during the search for a brand-new financial investment residential or commercial property. The primary advantages of using GRM include the following:

- Quick (and easy) to calculate
- Can be used on practically any residential or commercial investment residential or commercial property
- Limited info needed to perform the calculation
- Very beginner-friendly (unlike advanced metrics)

While GRM is a useful property investing tool, it's not best. A few of the drawbacks related to the GRM tool consist of the following:

- Doesn't aspect expenses into the computation
- Low GRM residential or commercial properties could mean deferred maintenance
- Lacks variable expenses like jobs and turnover, which limits its usefulness

How to Improve Your GRM

If these calculations do not yield the results you want, there are a number of things you can do to improve your GRM.

1. Increase Your Rent

The most effective way to enhance your GRM is to increase your lease. Even a little increase can result in a substantial drop in your GRM. For example, let's state that you buy a $100,000 house and gather $10,000 each year in lease. This suggests that you're gathering around $833 per month in lease from your occupant for a GRM of 10.0.

If you increase your rent on the exact same residential or commercial property to $12,000 annually, your GRM would drop to 8.3. Try to strike the right balance between price and appeal. If you have a $100,000 residential or commercial property in a decent area, you may have the ability to charge $1,000 monthly in lease without pushing potential tenants away. Take a look at our complete post on how much lease to charge!

2. Lower Your Purchase Price

You could also minimize your purchase price to improve your GRM. Remember that this alternative is only feasible if you can get the owner to sell at a lower price. If you invest $100,000 to buy a house and earn $10,000 each year in rent, your GRM will be 10.0. By reducing your purchase rate to $85,000, your GRM will drop to 8.5.

Quick Tip: Calculate GRM Before You Buy

GRM is NOT an ideal calculation, however it is an excellent screening metric that any starting real estate investor can use. It allows you to effectively determine how rapidly you can cover the residential or commercial property's purchase rate with yearly rent. This investing tool does not need any complex estimations or metrics, which makes it more beginner-friendly than some of the sophisticated tools like cap rate and cash-on-cash return.

Gross Rent Multiplier (GRM) FAQs

How Do You Calculate Gross Rent Multiplier?

The computation for gross lease multiplier involves the following formula: Residential or commercial property Value/Gross Rental Income = GRM. The only thing you need to do before making this computation is set a rental rate.

You can even utilize several rate indicate determine just how much you require to credit reach your perfect GRM. The main elements you require to think about before setting a rent price are:

- The residential or commercial property's location
- Square video footage of home
- Residential or commercial property costs
- Nearby school districts
- Current economy
- Season

What Gross Rent Multiplier Is Best?

There is no single gross rent multiplier that you need to strive for. While it's excellent if you can buy a residential or commercial property with a GRM of 4.0-7.0, a double-digit number isn't immediately bad for you or your portfolio.

If you want to lower your GRM, think about decreasing your purchase rate or increasing the rent you charge. However, you shouldn't focus on reaching a low GRM. The GRM might be low because of deferred maintenance. Consider the residential or commercial property's operating expense, which can consist of everything from utilities and maintenance to vacancies and repair costs.

Is Gross Rent Multiplier the Like Cap Rate?

Gross rent multiplier differs from cap rate. However, both estimations can be handy when you're assessing leasing residential or commercial properties. GRM estimates the worth of a financial investment residential or commercial property by determining just how much rental income is created. However, it does not consider expenses.

Cap rate goes an action further by basing the computation on the net operating income (NOI) that the residential or commercial property produces. You can only approximate a residential or commercial property's cap rate by deducting expenses from the rental earnings you bring in. Mortgage payments aren't included in the computation.