DepreciMax Bonus Depreciation Estimates for Short-Term Rental Buyers

DepreciMax describes itself as the first platform to combine market data with AI photo analysis to estimate bonus depreciation on short-term rentals before closing. It does two jobs. It ranks the active listings in a market by how much of their price is likely to be bonus-eligible, and it produces a property report on one listing you're thinking of buying.

What you get is a number you can use while you're still deciding: an estimated Year-1 write-off, split by asset class, with a tier that compares the home to its market and to the rest of the country. DepreciMax calls it an illustrative planning estimate and tells you to confirm it with your CPA. Its home page says more than 3,000 reports have been run, and its How It Works page says the listings come from Realtor.com, updated daily.

Land is never depreciated, and a rental building is written off over many years. A cost segregation analysis splits the price into parts with shorter lives. DepreciMax sorts them into three groups: 5-year property such as cabinetry, appliances, flooring and furnishings; 15-year land improvements such as pools, hot tubs, fire pits, pergolas and outdoor kitchens; and 39-year structure. Its reports count the 5-year and 15-year parts as bonus-eligible, the share you may be able to deduct in the first year.

How much of a price lands in those first-year groups depends on the home, which is why DepreciMax wants the number in front of you before the offer. Its About page puts it this way: "Most cost segregation studies happen after closing. By then, the decision is already made."

The rate matters too. DepreciMax's home page says "100% STR Bonus Depreciation is back permanently." Its About page credits the One Big Beautiful Bill Act with restoring the 100% rate for property placed in service after January 19, 2025. The study page is more cautious, describing the 100% rate as on the books for now, and it tells buyers to confirm the effective date and any transition rules with a CPA before an offer. Ask yours.

The study also says real savings depend on your tax bracket and on whether you can use the loss that year under IRC §469, which for many buyers comes down to material participation and the 7-day rule. For the taxes every host handles, see our guide to Airbnb taxes in plain English.

It starts with a free search. You enter a city or zip code, and DepreciMax ranks every active short-term rental listing there by bonus-eligible share, sorting homes into Diamond, Gold, Silver and Bronze tiers. The top three results are free and need no account or card.

When a home makes your shortlist, the $99 property report goes further. You upload 7 to 9 photos from the listing, and DepreciMax says its AI identifies the finishes, fixtures and improvements in them and classifies each one as 5-, 15- or 39-year property. In its words, "Our AI classifies every visible finish by IRS §168(k) category." Each property also gets a Bonus Dep Score built from its age, land value ratio, price per square foot and property type, with land values taken from county assessor records. The steps are laid out on DepreciMax's How It Works page.

What goes in	What comes out
7 to 9 listing photos	An estimated Year-1 write-off, itemized by 5-, 15- and 39-year property
Land value from county assessor records	A Diamond, Gold, Silver or Bronze tier against the local market and the national field
Age, price per square foot and property type	A PDF with a source tag on every line item, to share with your CPA before closing

Because it runs on photos already online, you have the number while you're still negotiating, not weeks after you've signed.

A formal cost segregation study is an engineering report, made after you own the property and signed so your CPA can file and defend it. DepreciMax's comparison of the two lays them side by side, and the table below uses its figures.

	Formal cost segregation study	DepreciMax report
Price	$5,000 to $8,000 residential, $10,000 or more commercial	$99 one-time
Turnaround	4 to 6 weeks	About 5 minutes
What's analyzed	An in-person walkthrough, drawings, invoices and a full asset inventory	Listing photos, assessor data, square footage and year built
Who provides it	An engineering firm with a PE or CCSP credential	DepreciMax's AI and assessor data
Output	An engineer-signed report and depreciation schedule	A line-item asset classification as PDF and CSV
Best for, per DepreciMax	Properties over $1.5M, commercial buildings, filings after closing, audit risk	Screening residential short-term rentals from $200k to $1.5M before you buy

On accuracy, DepreciMax says its estimates come within 5% of a formal study on the short-term rentals it has benchmarked, without saying how many, and that the gap can widen on commercial or unusual properties. It also says "DepreciMax is not trying to replace formal cost segregation." The same page says that below $1.5M its number is usually good enough for the return, while the home page says an IRS-defensible filing needs a formal study after closing. Which one your return needs is your CPA's call.

For homes near the line, the workflow it recommends uses both: DepreciMax during due diligence, then an engineering study after closing if the Year-1 deduction is large enough to justify the fee. DepreciMax's own pages also quote different prices for a formal study, from about $1,000 for desktop reports on its home page up to $15,000 on its How It Works page, so get a quote from a cost segregation firm before you budget. Cavmir's directory of STR tax CPAs and cost segregation specialists is a place to start.

DepreciMax's STR Bonus Depreciation Study scored 1,717 active short-term rental listings across 197 US markets and ranked each market by the median share of purchase price that qualifies for bonus depreciation. It sorts markets and homes into medal tiers, from Bronze at 18% up to Diamond at 24%, and fifty markets made its Top 50. DepreciMax published the findings in July 2026 from a July 18 snapshot, and the study page was updated in November 2026.

In the July findings, Lake Cumberland, Kentucky came first at 27.1%, with a median listing price of $329,950 and a median Year-1 deduction of $89,416.

Rank	Market	Median bonus-eligible share	Median price
1	Lake Cumberland, KY	27.1%	$329,950
2	Poconos, PA	26.7%	$669,000
3	Branson, MO	26.6%	$365,000
4	Angel Fire, NM	26.4%	$635,000
5	Broken Bow, OK	26.4%	$525,000

The markets at the other end got the headlines. In the same write-up, Aspen and Snowmass came in at 14.1%, Nantucket at 10.6%, the Hamptons at 15.9% and Malibu at 12.9%, all below the 18% Bronze line. The reason DepreciMax gives is the land value ratio: land can't be depreciated, and in those markets it's a large share of what you pay. The write-up estimates Nantucket lots at 60 to 75% of the purchase price, against 20 to 35% on land in county records for Lake Cumberland, Branson and Broken Bow.

The write-up sums up what decides the rest in two sentences: "Land ratio sets the ceiling. Finishes decide where you land under it." It's also clear about the study's limits. It does no on-site inspections, doesn't analyze individual property photos and doesn't produce IRS-defensible allocations. It's also a sample: DepreciMax says 186 of the 197 markets had at least five scored listings. Treat it as a market screen, with the property report as the next step. The study page lists all 197 markets.

DepreciMax builds for buyers and the people who advise them.

• Short-term rental investors. Airbnb and Vrbo buyers who rank homes in a market by deduction potential before making an offer. Its About page also speaks to investors with high W-2 income and to real estate professionals. Whether either label fits you is a question for your CPA.
• Real estate CPAs and tax advisors. DepreciMax suggests they use the reports to spot high-depreciation purchases while a client is still searching, and share the PDF before closing.
• Agents, brokerages and firms. The For Firms page pitches office plans where agents put the Year-1 write-off on the listing sheet next to price and projected revenue, and compare finalists by write-off.

The tax number sits beside the work you'd do on any market: rates, permits and financing. Our guide on how to buy an Airbnb investment property covers that side, and Cavmir's list of STR investment agents and market data covers who can help you find the home.

This is the part that overlaps with Cavmir's work. Cavmir markets vacation rentals, and much of that work is about what guests see first in the photos: the kitchen, the furniture, the hot tub, the deck. DepreciMax's study names the same kinds of items as the ones that move a home's number, from cabinetry and furnishings (5-year) to hot tubs and fire pits (15-year).

The lake markets in the study show how much the outdoor list matters there. DepreciMax estimates that 71% of active listings in its Top 50 lake markets have a hot tub, 68% a private dock or boat slip and 62% a fire pit. It also says two homes with the same land ratio in the same market can land 6 to 10 percentage points apart, depending on how amenity-heavy the build is.

In its case study of a Diamond home in Joshua Tree, California, the pool and spa, the furnishings and the porcelain tile flooring were the three largest bonus-eligible items.

Two cautions. The report works from the photos you upload, so it reads what those photos show. And anything you add after closing, from new furniture to a hot tub, is its own tax question for your CPA. If you're planning upgrades for bookings, our guides to the amenities that define a luxe Airbnb and what to put in your Airbnb in 2027 start from the guest's side.

You can start for free. The market search shows the top three results without an account. DepreciMax also has a free state conformity tool that shows whether a state follows the federal bonus depreciation rules on its own return. As of October 2026 it counts 26 states that conform fully, 22 states plus DC that decouple, and 2 that partly conform. The full 2026 study is a free PDF sent to your email.

Paid reports, as listed on deprecimax.com in November 2026:

Plan	Price	What you get
Single Report	$99 one-time	1 report
Search Pack	$299 one-time	10 reports, 1 year to use them
Membership	$249 a month, 3-month minimum	Unlimited reports and the $249 Prospecting Guide
For Firms	From $499 a month for 3 seats	Unlimited reports and client-shareable reports, with plans at 3, 5, 10 or 15 seats

The pricing page says a single report can be refunded within 30 days, and a Search Pack within 30 days if all 10 credits are unused. A single report's $99 can be credited toward a Search Pack or Membership within 14 days. Check that page before you buy, since prices change.

If DepreciMax's number on a home looks worth acting on, take the report to your CPA before you close. Three questions come from DepreciMax's own study:

• Which bonus depreciation rate applies to a home you place in service this year, and do any transition rules apply to your purchase date?
• Can you use the loss in the first year under IRC §469, or will it carry forward?
• Does your state follow the federal rules, or will you add the deduction back on your state return?

If the numbers hold up, the study's workflow ends with a formal cost segregation study after closing, which is what goes on the filed return. Cavmir's tax and cost segregation directory lists real estate CPAs and cost segregation firms, with DepreciMax as its featured partner, and the partner directory lists Cavmir's other official partners.

Once you've bought, Cavmir can build the brand, website and marketing. Our page for real estate investors explains how.

Every fact about DepreciMax above comes from its own pages, read on November 11, 2026. Prices and study figures change, so check the current page before you rely on one.

• DepreciMax home page
• About DepreciMax
• DepreciMax pricing
• How DepreciMax works
• Cost Segregation Study vs. DepreciMax (May 20, 2026)
• 2026 STR Bonus Depreciation Study findings (July 2026)
• The State of Bonus Depreciation in US Short-Term Rentals, 2026
• State conformity tool
• DepreciMax for firms

Photos from Pexels: lake cabin by Alexey Avilov, kitchen by Curtis Adams and hot tub deck by hi room.