Interview Question: “Would you prefer to rent a building or buy it?”

Full Q: “if you owned a business, would you rather rent a building or buy it? How would you go about calculating the returns on each one in order to compare the investment decisions?”

Follow Up Q: “How do you calculate the returns on your equity vs calculate the returns on purchasing a building?”

2 Comments
 
Most Helpful

Let's say I own a business that is valued at call it ~10x EBITDA and I am deciding whether to rent or buy a building that has a 4% cap rate (it's a RE-specific metric but basically it's just the flip of EBITDA multiple i.e., yield-ish). So a 4% cap rate on this building is ~25x EBITDA.

If I decide to rent, that is an operating lease that flows through EBITDA - each $1 of rent costs me ~$10 in TEV (cause the business is valued at 10x EBITDA). If I buy, each $1 of rent that I save is going to cost me ~$25 (cause of that 4% cap rate) and it ties up my capital that could go elsewhere (and would hope that is earning >4%) 

Someone who does a lot SLBs or RE can probably explain it better / fill in what I goofed

 

Dolorem omnis nihil ratione quisquam. Eius ea sint magnam laborum. Sed repudiandae voluptatibus illum saepe quasi explicabo. Similique eos est deleniti quaerat excepturi. Expedita explicabo nobis pariatur.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.3%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 03 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.9%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.3%

Professional Growth Opportunities

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • JPMorgan No 97.3%

Total Avg Compensation

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (53) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (27) $183
  • Intern/Summer Associate (15) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (76) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”