Short-Term Rental Loans: Financed on the Revenue It Actually Makes
An STR that grosses double a long-term lease shouldn't be underwritten like it earns the lease. Short-term rental financing qualifies the property on its nightly revenue — booking history or market data — because that's the business you're actually running.
2 minutes · No documents · No tax returns
By OneMoreDoor Capital Team · Updated
The short-term rental is the asset class conventional lending never learned to read. The revenue is real — often dramatically more than a lease would produce — but it arrives nightly, seasonally, through platforms, and a conventional underwriter looks at all that and prices the property like a long-term rental on its worst day. STR financing fixes the lens: the property qualifies on the short-term revenue it actually generates.
What is a short-term rental loan?
A DSCR-family business-purpose loan where the coverage ratio runs on short-term rental revenue — Airbnb, VRBO, direct bookings — instead of a long-term lease. Documentation is the operating history (platform or property-manager statements) or, on acquisitions, market STR data for the property. Thirty-year terms, LLC vesting standard, no tax returns. It's rental financing that finally matches the business model.
How STR revenue gets documented
Operating history first
Twelve-plus months of platform or manager statements is the gold standard — it captures the full seasonal cycle as it actually happened.
Market data on acquisitions
No history yet? Program-dependent paths qualify on market short-term rental data for the property and area, underwritten conservatively.
The long-term floor
The appraisal’s market rent gives the deal a lease-based floor — many files clear on the floor and keep the STR upside as pure margin.
The ratio, annualized
Revenue is assessed across the full year against PITIA — one honest annual number instead of a cherry-picked month.
What you need to qualify
- A legally operable STR — local permits and zoning are your gate to clear before revenue is underwritten
- Documented revenue — platform statements, manager statements, or market STR data by program
- Standard DSCR file mechanics — down payment or equity, credit review, entity vesting
- A building that fits — condotel-style properties route to specific programs; identify the building early
The permitting point deserves its own sentence: cities from Nashville to Charleston to Seattle regulate non-owner-occupied STRs aggressively, and the rules are block-level. Our state pages carry the local texture — the Tennessee Smokies corridor, South Carolina's coast, and Florida's vacation markets are three very different regulatory worlds.
Who this is for
STR operators scaling a book of properties on the revenue the book already produces; conversion investors turning tired long-term rentals into higher-yield stays; vacation-market buyers in cabin and beach economies where nightly revenue is the entire thesis; and hosts whose portfolio outgrew the consumer mortgages it started on. If the property will run on a lease instead, standard DSCR financing is the simpler tool.
STR loans finance non-owner-occupied investment property. A vacation home you'll also use yourself is a second-home product — different lending, honest answer. If you or family will stay in it, tell us first.
Run your STR's numbers
Property, revenue, plan — the ratio computed on what the property actually earns. Booking history welcome, tax returns unnecessary.
2 minutes · No documents · No tax returns
Can I buy a property with no STR history and finance it on projected revenue?
Program-dependent, but yes — acquisition programs can qualify on market short-term rental data for the property and area rather than an operating history. Data-backed projections are underwritten conservatively, and the property's long-term market rent often serves as the floor. History strengthens terms; its absence doesn't end the conversation.
How does underwriting treat seasonality?
Annually, not monthly — STR revenue is evaluated across a full twelve-month cycle so a beach town's July doesn't inflate the number and its January doesn't kill it. Twelve or more months of statements make the cleanest file because they capture the whole season exactly as it played.
What about condotels and condo buildings with rental programs?
Building type is its own gate, separate from revenue. Hotel-style buildings — front desks, mandatory rental programs, short minimum stays — push into condotel territory that many standard programs exclude, though some finance it. Name the building early; it determines the program lane before revenue even comes up.
Can I convert my long-term rental to an STR when I refinance?
Yes — a refinance is the natural conversion point. Depending on program, the file can lean on market STR data for the property, your early operating results, or the long-term rent as a qualifying floor with STR upside as your business case. Verify local permitting before the conversion — the zoning gate is yours to clear.
Does revenue from Airbnb and VRBO both count — and what about direct bookings?
Platform statements from the major channels are standard documentation, and professionally managed properties can document through manager statements covering all channels. Direct-booking revenue counts when it's papered — deposits and statements that reconcile. The test is documentability, not which logo is on the booking.
Ready to run your deal?
Tell us the property, the rent, and the plan — your DSCR computed on the spot, options priced on the property's cash flow.
2 minutes · No documents · No tax returns