STR ROI Calculator

The calculator is a straight cash-flow model, the same shape an underwriter or a serious lender uses. Four groups of inputs feed it. Property and purchase sets what the deal costs to enter: price, closing costs, and the furnishing budget that listings photos are made of. Financing turns the price into a monthly payment — or disappears entirely when you flip the cash toggle. Revenue is nightly rate times booked nights, minus the platform and management fees that come off the top before you see a dollar. Operating costs carry the unglamorous lines: utilities and supplies each month, insurance and property tax each year, and a reserve for the things guests wear out.

What is left after all of that is annual cash flow — the number in the big type. Cash-on-cash divides it by every dollar you put in, so you can compare the deal against anything else that money could do. Cap rate strips the financing out and measures the property itself. And breakeven occupancy is the safety gauge: the calendar you must fill before the property stops costing you money each month.

The model leaves out appreciation, depreciation, and tax effects on purpose. Not because they do not matter — they can matter enormously — but because they belong to a different conversation, with a licensed CPA, after the operating math already works. A deal that only pencils if the market rises or the tax code cooperates is not a deal; it is a hope with a mortgage on it.

Check the revenue inputs against reality, not hope. The model is only as honest as the nightly rate and occupancy you feed it. Pull the actual calendars of the five most comparable live listings in the market, or use a data platform like AirDNA or Rabbu — both are in our investment directory — and then underwrite below the average. A brand-new listing does not perform like a three-year-old listing with two hundred reviews.

Look at breakeven occupancy first. Cash-on-cash is the headline, but breakeven is the risk. If the deal only works above the market's typical occupancy, you are underwriting perfection. The gap between your expected occupancy and your breakeven is your margin of safety — the wider it is, the more bad months the property can absorb.

Stress it. Knock ten points off occupancy and twenty-five dollars off the nightly rate, and see whether the cash flow survives. Seasonal markets, new regulation, or one aggressive new competitor can do exactly that to a real property. If the stressed version still clears, you have a deal; if it collapses, you have a fair-weather deal.

Verify the fee line. The 15.5% default matches Airbnb's host-only fee, but your real number depends on your channel mix and whether you hire management. Run your exact platform math in the Airbnb fee calculator and the direct-booking calculator — then come back and make this model match.

1. If the numbers clear — verify the market lets you operate. A beautiful cash-on-cash return means nothing in a city that will not issue you a permit. Search our free STR permit data — 129,643 records from 21 official registries — and read the permits and licensing guide before you write an offer.

2. If the numbers are close — work the revenue side. The inputs you control most are rate and occupancy, and both are marketing problems. The amenity ROI tool shows which upgrades move the nightly rate; the companion essay on property analysis walks through how professional listings squeeze more revenue from the same four walls.

3. If you are moving forward — line up the money and the plan. The lender directory covers DSCR loans that qualify on the property's income rather than your W-2, and the tax directory covers the cost-segregation conversation. And when the keys are yours, the launch itself is what we do all day — the Cavmir 12-step system turns a purchase into a listing that fills its own calendar.