A broker opinion of value for a shopping center should give a value range with the work shown: lease-by-lease income, lease comps under each rent, a cap rate range turned into dollars, and what is still unknown. For the 237,925 SF center in Essex, Maryland worked below, the range is USD 22.1 million to USD 37.3 million.
For the cap rate question: that center is priced on an 8.0 to 9.0 percent lease-up cap rate, because its anchor box is vacant. A fully leased center would price lower. The reasoning is in the cap rate section below.
Written by the Titleman team with AI assistance (Claude). The example was produced by Titleman's own opinion-of-value workflow in a test run on a real center. Reviewed by Titleman's SEO/GEO review desk (AI-assisted, not independent of Titleman) before it went live. Page updated 15 October 2026.
This page is a worked example of a price opinion. It is not an appraisal, not investment advice, and the center's owner has not endorsed any figure here.
What a broker opinion of value for a shopping center must include
A buyer or seller reading a broker opinion of value for a retail center should be able to find each of these. If one is missing, the opinion should say why.
| Item | What it should show |
|---|---|
| Purpose and as-of date | Why the opinion exists (listing, hold, sell, refinance talk) and the date every number is struck |
| Property facts | Gross leasable area, land, year built, parking, pad sites, last recorded trade |
| Rent roll tied to leases | Each tenant: suite, square feet, start and expiry, base rent, steps, options, percentage rent, co-tenancy and go-dark terms |
| Operating statement | Trailing 12 months of income and expense, with recoveries reconciled to what the leases allow |
| Market rent with lease comps | Rent per square foot per year, the lease type (NNN, gross, modified), and comps matched by suite size, not one blended number |
| Vacancy and credit loss | Actual vacancy by space, with the anchor and junior anchor shown apart from the shops |
| Sale comps | Price, price per square foot, date, vacancy at sale, and the cap rate if known |
| Cap rate range | A low and high with the reason for each, and the cap rate the sale comps imply |
| Rollover and leasing costs | Expiries by year, downtime, tenant improvements, leasing commissions |
| Reconciliation | How the approaches (income, sales, rent reversion, cost) weigh against each other, with the leading one named |
| Value range and point | A range, a point inside it, and the price per square foot |
| Open items | Everything not supplied, assumed, or in conflict, written down |
For an office building, swap the anchor and co-tenancy lines for the rollover schedule, the tenant improvement and commission cost per square foot, and the free rent in current leases. The structure stays the same. The page on how to prepare a broker opinion of value walks the preparation steps, and how to underwrite a retail strip center covers the anchor and recovery checks in more depth. A broker opinion is a pricing opinion, not a regulated valuation; see the Wikipedia entry on real estate appraisal for how the two differ.
The worked center: 1340 Eastern Blvd, Essex, Maryland
The subject is a 237,925 SF neighborhood shopping center on Eastern Boulevard in Essex, Maryland. Its last recorded trade was in 1988. The anchor box, about 56,000 SF, is marketed as available, so the opinion estimates occupancy at about 76.5 percent. That estimate is derived, not read from a rent roll.
The opinion is Titleman's AI output for this one center. The asking listings below are dated August to September 2026; the signed leases carry their own dates.
Lease comps under the in-line rent
The question for a small shop suite is: what does a 2,000 SF in-line space rent for here? The opinion's answer is about USD 19.00 per SF per year, triple net, which is USD 38,000 a year for 2,000 SF. The supported band runs from about USD 16 to USD 22 per SF depending on which comps are weighted. Here is what sits under it.
| Comp | Size | Rent per SF per year | Basis and date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Three suites in a strip on Eastern Blvd | 2,400 to 3,600 SF | USD 19.00 | NNN asking, Sept 2026 |
| Two suites on Stemmers Run Rd, Essex | 750 and 1,000 SF | USD 15.92 and USD 16.74 | NNN asking, Aug 2026 |
| Center across Eastern Blvd, about 0.14 mile | Mixed | USD 21.93 in place, USD 25.00 asking | Rent type not stated, 2026 |
| Two in-line shops at a center about 1 mile away | 1,600 SF each | USD 17.91 and USD 24.01 | Signed leases from an offering memorandum |
| Larger boxes at that same center | 6,300 to 10,700 SF | USD 10.00 to USD 15.59 | Signed leases, de-weighted |
| Two suites in Baltimore, 21211 | 800 and 2,700 SF | USD 30.00 and USD 24.44 | NNN asking, Sept 2026, outer band only |
Three things matter about these comps:
- Size matching moves the answer. The large boxes pull a blended average down to roughly USD 15 per SF. They are poor matches for a 2,000 SF shop, so the opinion de-weights them for the in-line number.
- Asking is not signed. Of the seven listings in the lease sheet, none is a signed lease. Asking rents often compress once free rent and tenant improvements are priced in.
- The subject's own rent is not in the set. The center's current or asking rent for this suite was not available, so the opinion positions the market band and does not claim the center is over or under rent.
The run's own text and its lease sheet also differ on the edges of the band (USD 16.00 versus USD 16.74 low, USD 32,000 versus USD 33,480 a year on 2,000 SF). The checks flagged that, and this page keeps the USD 19.00 midpoint, which both agree on.
From lease comps to the center's income
With no rent roll for the subject, the income build uses the comp median, not tenants. The median of ten lease comps is USD 15.01 per SF per year, including the large boxes, which is the right weight for a center that is mostly large space.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Potential gross rent: 237,925 SF at USD 15.01 | USD 3,570,000 a year |
| Less vacancy (5 percent assumed in the NOI build) | USD 3,390,000 |
| Less operating expenses (35 percent assumed) | about USD 2,205,000 NOI |
| NOI used by the income basis in the opinion | USD 2,510,565 |
The last two lines do not agree, and the page shows both on purpose. The opinion's income basis capitalizes USD 2,510,565. The separate NOI build, which also feeds the scenario workbook, gives USD 2,204,515. The run did not reconcile them. The next section shows what each does to the value.
Cap rate range to value range
Value is net operating income divided by the cap rate. The opinion uses a lease-up range of 8.0 to 9.0 percent. The only closed sale found nearby in 2026, at 31 percent vacancy and about USD 83 per SF, implies roughly 8.4 percent.
| NOI | At 9.0 percent | At 8.5 percent | At 8.0 percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| USD 2,510,565 (income basis in the opinion) | USD 27.9 million | USD 29.5 million | USD 31.4 million |
| USD 2,204,515 (separate NOI build) | USD 24.5 million | USD 25.9 million | USD 27.6 million |
The opinion's leading income basis is USD 27.9 million to USD 31.4 million, which is USD 117 to USD 132 per SF. The same cap rates on the lower NOI would give USD 24.5 million to USD 27.6 million. The gap, about USD 3 million to USD 4 million, is the cost of not having a rent roll and a trailing operating statement.
One brokerage survey cited in the run puts suburban Class C retail near 7.4 percent for the first quarter of 2026, for stabilized product. A second pass could not extract that figure again, so treat it as unconfirmed. It would point the same way as the logic: a leased-up center prices below a lease-up center's 8 to 9 percent.
Reconciling the four value bases
The opinion tests the income answer against three other bases and names the income basis as leading.
| Basis | Value range | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Replacement cost and land | USD 16.2 million to USD 22.1 million | Floor |
| Sales comparison | USD 15.5 million to USD 23.8 million | Corroboration only, one usable closed sale |
| Income capitalization | USD 27.9 million to USD 31.4 million | Leading basis |
| Rent reversion at full occupancy | USD 40.2 million to USD 43.0 million | Upside if the anchor box leases |
The opinion of value is USD 22.1 million low, USD 29.7 million point, USD 37.3 million high, which is about USD 93, USD 125 and USD 157 per SF. The point sits above the sale comparison because the sale comp carried 31 percent vacancy and is a single data point, and below the stabilized reversion because the anchor box is empty.
What is still open
A broker opinion is only as honest as its open items. For this center:
- No rent roll or trailing 12 months. Income is built from market comps. A tenant-by-tenant roll is the first thing that would tighten the range.
- The anchor box. About 56,000 SF is marketed as available. Occupancy of 76.5 percent is an estimate, and a letter of intent on the box would move the value more than any other fact.
- Two NOI figures. USD 2,510,565 and USD 2,204,515 should be reconciled before anyone prices off this.
- One closed sale. A single trade at 31 percent vacancy is thin support.
- Asking, not signed, rents for most of the small-shop comps, and an unstated rent type for some.
- Assumptions. The 5 percent vacancy, 35 percent expense ratio and the exit cap rates in the scenario workbook are assumed, not read from records.
- Recoveries, co-tenancy and go-dark terms cannot be checked without the leases.
FAQ
What should a broker opinion of value include for a retail or office building?
The purpose and as-of date, property facts, a rent roll tied to the leases, a trailing operating statement, market rent supported by lease comps, sale comps with price per square foot, a cap rate range with its reasoning, rollover and leasing costs, a reconciliation of the approaches into a value range, and a list of what is still unknown. Retail adds anchor, co-tenancy and recovery terms. Office adds the rollover schedule and tenant improvement and commission costs.
What is a good cap rate for a neighborhood shopping center in 2026?
There is no single good rate. In the example above, a center with a vacant anchor box is opined at 8.0 to 9.0 percent, and the one nearby closed sale implies about 8.4 percent. A stabilized, fully leased center normally prices below that. The page on what a cap rate is explains the arithmetic, and the Wikipedia entry on capitalization rate gives the general definition.
How do you turn a cap rate range into a value range?
Divide the NOI by each end of the range. USD 2,510,565 divided by 9.0 percent is about USD 27.9 million, and divided by 8.0 percent is about USD 31.4 million. The low cap rate gives the high value. See net operating income for how the NOI itself is defined.
Can software produce a broker opinion of value for a shopping center?
Software can assemble the lease comps, sale comps, income build and reconciliation in minutes, and show where each number came from. It cannot make up a rent roll the owner has not provided, and it should say so, as the open items above do. A broker still reviews and signs the opinion. See broker opinion of value software for how the workflow runs.
Is a broker opinion of value the same as an appraisal?
No. A broker opinion is a price opinion for listing, pricing and early investment decisions. An appraisal is a regulated valuation by a licensed appraiser, and lenders generally require one. The sales comparison approach is common to both, but the standards around it are not.
Get an opinion with the open items shown
Titleman's AI engine reads the leases, comps and records for a center (2,100+ sources), builds the income, and states what is missing. Request a demo and bring a center with a rent roll to see the tenant-by-tenant version of this page.