A rent schedule on an appraisal is the section where the appraiser estimates what a property would lease for at today’s market rates, using recently signed leases on comparable homes nearby. For most conventional loans on single-family rentals, it takes the form of Fannie Mae Form 1007, the Single-Family Comparable Rent Schedule, attached as an addendum to the standard appraisal report.1Fannie Mae. Single Family Comparable Rent Schedule Lenders use the resulting monthly figure to decide how much rental income you can count toward qualifying for the loan, regardless of what any current tenant is actually paying.
When the Form Shows Up on Your Loan
Fannie Mae requires Form 1007 when two things are true at once: the property is a one-unit investment property, and you’re using rental income to qualify.2Fannie Mae Selling Guide. Appraisal Report Forms and Exhibits Buying a primary residence or a second home without counting rent? You won’t see this form.
For a duplex, triplex, or fourplex, the appraiser uses the Small Residential Income Property Appraisal Report (Fannie Mae Form 1025 / Freddie Mac Form 72) instead, which builds the rent analysis directly into the full appraisal rather than as a separate addendum.3Fannie Mae. Small Residential Income Property Appraisal Report2Fannie Mae Selling Guide. Appraisal Report Forms and Exhibits Either way, the output is the same thing: a market rent estimate the lender will plug into underwriting.
One useful point for buyers: if the property isn’t currently rented, or the existing lease won’t transfer to you, the lender can rely on Form 1007 or Form 1025 alone to support the income estimate. No signed lease required.4Fannie Mae Selling Guide. Rental Income A vacant property can still contribute projected rent to your qualifying income.
What’s Actually on the Form
The form is a grid comparing your property against three recently leased rentals in the area. Before the comparison starts, the appraiser records the subject property’s basics: room count, gross living area in square feet, and whether it’s occupied or vacant.1Fannie Mae. Single Family Comparable Rent Schedule
If a tenant is in place, the appraiser logs the lease start and end dates, current rent, and who pays utilities.1Fannie Mae. Single Family Comparable Rent Schedule Utilities matter more than they look. A unit renting at $1,800 with the landlord covering heat and water is not the same product as a unit renting at $1,800 where the tenant pays everything, and the appraiser adjusts for that so the comparison is apples to apples.
Each comparable in the grid shares key traits with your property: similar location, bedroom and bathroom count, condition, and amenities like parking or laundry. Every meaningful difference triggers a dollar adjustment. If a comparable has a garage and your property doesn’t, the appraiser subtracts the value of that garage from the comparable’s rent. The adjusted numbers then converge on a single “Indicated Monthly Market Rent” at the bottom of the form.
How the Appraiser Arrives at the Number
The comparables have to be actual executed leases, not asking prices from rental listing sites. That rule is what gives the rent schedule its credibility with lenders. Anyone can post an aspirational number online; the appraiser needs evidence that a real tenant signed at a real price.
From there, the work is granular. Bedroom count, bathroom count, square footage, condition, and specific amenities such as in-unit laundry, off-street parking, and private outdoor space each produce dollar adjustments. An updated kitchen pushes the figure up. Deferred maintenance pulls it down. Proximity to employment, transit, and schools sets the baseline.
The appraiser is trying to land on the most probable rent the property would command in a competitive market with reasonable exposure time. A single comparable that leased far above local norms doesn’t dictate the estimate; the appraiser reconciles across all three and explains any outlier.
How Lenders Use the Rent Figure
Lenders do not credit you with the full market rent from the schedule. Fannie Mae requires lenders to multiply gross monthly rent by 75% and use only that reduced number for qualification.4Fannie Mae Selling Guide. Rental Income The 25% haircut covers vacancy and maintenance. So if the appraiser estimates market rent at $2,000, the lender counts $1,500 toward your income.
That reduced figure then feeds your debt-to-income ratio. On conventional investment loans, some lenders also run a debt service coverage ratio, comparing the property’s net operating income against the total mortgage payment. A DSCR below 1.0 means rent doesn’t cover the debt, and most lenders won’t approve the loan at that level.
When an Existing Lease and the Market Rent Disagree
It’s common for the market rent on Form 1007 to differ from what a current tenant pays, and this trips up a lot of borrowers. The appraiser isn’t validating the lease; they’re estimating what the property would rent for today on the open market. If a tenant signed a three-year lease two years ago at below-market rates, the Form 1007 estimate will likely come in higher. If the tenant is overpaying relative to the neighborhood, it will come in lower.
Form 1007 reports both the current contract rent and the indicated market rent separately, so the lender sees the gap. When the lender has a choice between a verified lease and the market rent, they use whichever produces the more conservative qualifying figure after the 75% reduction. A strong existing lease can work in your favor here: if your tenant pays $2,200 and the appraiser estimates market rent at $1,900, the lender may use the lease figure, provided it’s verified and arms-length.4Fannie Mae Selling Guide. Rental Income
What to Do If the Rent Estimate Comes In Low
A conservative rent estimate doesn’t just feel disappointing. It directly shrinks the income your lender will count. A figure that’s $200 below your expectation turns into $150 less in qualifying monthly income after the 75% haircut. For borrowers right at the edge of their debt-to-income limit, that’s often enough to kill the deal.
Your first move is a formal Reconsideration of Value (ROV). Federal interagency guidance issued in 2024 directs lenders to establish a clear process for borrowers to raise valuation concerns early enough in underwriting for corrections before a final credit decision.5Federal Register. Interagency Guidance on Reconsiderations of Value of Residential Real Estate Valuations To get traction on an ROV, you need to provide specific and verifiable information the appraiser may not have seen: signed lease agreements from comparable properties, listings with confirmed lease prices, or documentation of upgrades the appraiser missed.
An ROV doesn’t guarantee a higher number. The appraiser reviews your evidence and decides whether a revision is warranted. Vague complaints that the rent looks “too low” won’t move anything. Concrete comparables that leased recently, at higher rents, in the same neighborhood carry the most weight.
If the ROV doesn’t resolve it, your options are practical: bring a larger down payment to offset the lower qualifying income, negotiate a lower purchase price, or accept a smaller loan amount. For DSCR loans in particular, a low rent estimate can cause the property to fail the coverage requirement outright, leaving you without a loan unless you restructure the deal.
Short-Term Rentals Are a Different Animal
If you’re buying a property that earns income through Airbnb or a similar platform, the rent schedule gets complicated. Fannie Mae leaves it to the lender to decide whether short-term rental income counts as business income or rental income.6Fannie Mae. Short-Term Rentals and Form 1007 That classification changes everything about documentation.
If the lender treats it as business income, standard self-employment underwriting rules apply and Form 1007 isn’t needed. If the lender treats it as rental income, they must obtain a Form 1007 for a one-unit investment property, and the appraiser has to use comparable monthly lease rates to arrive at the market rent figure.6Fannie Mae. Short-Term Rentals and Form 1007 Multiplying the nightly rate by 30 is explicitly not acceptable.
The gap this creates can be severe. A property pulling $4,000 a month through short-term bookings might only appraise at $2,500 in monthly market rent because long-term leases in the area command less. If short-term rental revenue is central to your investment case, talk through the income classification with your lender before ordering the appraisal.