BRAVE Income & NOI Fields
Complete guide to BRAVE income approach fields. Covers PGI, vacancy, EGI, operating expenses, NOI, and line-item expense categories for CRE appraisals.
The Income Approach in BRAVE
The income approach is the most important valuation method for commercial real estate. The BRAVE standard — created by Valcre as an open industry standard — dedicates 16 of its 99 fields to capturing the income analysis. Lenders scrutinize these fields more than any other section of the BRAVE file, because they form the basis for debt service coverage calculations and underwriting decisions.
This guide covers every official BRAVE income field, explains the math that should reconcile between fields, and identifies common errors. For the complete 99-field reference with official field names, see our BRAVE 99-Field Reference.
Revenue Fields
Income.RentalIncome
Total rental income the property generates.
Format: Decimal (dollar amount as a raw number, no commas or dollar signs).
Income.OtherIncome
Non-rental income including parking, laundry, storage, antenna leases, and miscellaneous sources.
Format: Decimal, annual.
Income.PotentialGrossIncome
Potential gross income (PGI) — the total income the property would produce at full occupancy.
Format: Decimal, annual.
Income.VacancyLoss
The deduction from PGI for physical vacancy and credit loss.
Format: Decimal, annual dollar amount.
Income.EffectiveGrossIncome
Effective gross income (EGI) — PGI minus vacancy and collection loss.
Format: Decimal.
Income.GroundLease
Ground lease payment amount, if applicable.
Format: Decimal.
Operating Expense Fields
BRAVE captures operating expenses at a summary level:
- Income.OperatingExpenses — Total operating expenses.
- Income.Reserves — Replacement reserves amount.
- Income.ReservesIncluded — Whether reserves are included in the expense total (Boolean: Yes/No).
- Income.GroundLeaseIncluded — Whether ground lease is included in expenses (Boolean: Yes/No).
Note: Unlike some appraisal software that breaks expenses into line items (taxes, insurance, utilities, management, etc.), BRAVE captures total operating expenses in a single field. Line-item detail remains in the PDF report.
Net Operating Income (Income.NetOperatingIncome)
The most critical field in the entire BRAVE specification.
Calculation: EGI minus Total Operating Expenses.
Important note on validation: The BRAVE specification documents a cross-field check where NOI should equal EGI minus Operating Expenses. However, the official usebrave.org validator does not currently enforce this cross-field relationship. A file with inconsistent NOI will still pass the official validator. This makes it especially important to verify your math independently before submission.
Rate Fields
BRAVE also captures key rates in the Income category:
- Income.OccupancyRate — Current occupancy rate (Decimal)
- Income.VacancyRate — Current vacancy rate (Decimal)
- Income.RentGrowthRate — Projected rent growth rate (Decimal)
- Income.ExpenseGrowthRate — Projected expense growth rate (Decimal)
- Income.RETaxGrowthRate — Projected real estate tax growth rate (Decimal)
Common Income Field Errors
Math that does not reconcile. Even though the official validator does not enforce cross-field checks, lenders will review your income figures for consistency. Ensure EGI minus Operating Expenses equals NOI. Use your appraisal software's calculations rather than manual entry to avoid rounding issues.
Inconsistent expense treatment for NNN leases. If tenants pay expenses directly, you can either show gross income with reimbursements and corresponding gross expenses, or show net income only. Do not mix conventions — pick one approach and apply it consistently.
Omitting reserves. The Income.Reserves field should be populated for all income-producing properties. Use Income.ReservesIncluded (Yes/No) to indicate whether reserves are included in the operating expense total.
Validate your income fields with AppraisalAPI.com before submission. For cap rate formatting details, see our BRAVE Cap Rate Fields Explained guide. For valuation conclusions that build on these income figures, see our BRAVE valuation fields guide. For a complete overview of all 99 BRAVE fields, read the 99 fields of BRAVE. Before submitting, run through our BRAVE compliance checklist to catch common errors.
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