How STR Yield scores a deal

• Newly listed homes in 6 US vacation markets are pulled once a day and scored on estimated short-term rental revenue, cash flow and a year-1 tax write-off.
• Revenue is an estimate for each specific address (annual revenue, occupancy and nightly rate), and the comparable rentals behind it are listed on the deal page.
• Cash flow assumes 25% down on a 30-year loan at the Freddie Mac average rate plus 0.75%, a 20% management fee, and a markup on insurance for short-term rental cover.
• The write-off is a component-level cost segregation estimate with 100% bonus depreciation on 5- and 15-year property. The building is 39-year property and gets no bonus.
• Every figure is an estimate, not tax, legal or investment advice.

Each market has its own page with its current scored listings:

• Gatlinburg / Pigeon Forge
• Hocking Hills
• Blue Ridge / Ellijay
• Big Bear
• Redding
• La Crosse

Every day at 12:00 UTC, STR Yield searches each ZIP code in each market for homes newly listed for sale, using public for-sale listing data. Each run picks up homes listed since the previous successful run, with a one-day overlap. Land, lots, farms and mobile homes are skipped.

A listing gets a revenue estimate and a score only if it fits the buy box:

Up to 150 new listings per market are analyzed each day. Listings over that cap are picked up by later runs while they were listed less than 45 days ago. When the same home appears twice under different listing records (same street address and ZIP code), we keep the first one we saw. A listing's price and status are updated whenever it shows up again in a search.

Sold, pending and off-market homes

The daily run also re-checks every scored listing that is still marked for sale once its last check is more than 2 days old, up to 400 listings per run, never-checked and oldest first. Homes that have sold, gone under contract or come off the market drop out of the deal feed, the market pages, the daily email and the sitemap. Their deal page stays up with a “No longer for sale” notice and is hidden from search engines. A contingent listing that is still taking offers stays in the feed.

For each listing in the buy box we request a short-term rental revenue estimate for that address, using its bedrooms, bathrooms and a guest count based on the number of bedrooms. The estimate covers the trailing 12 months: annual revenue, occupancy and average daily rate (ADR). It comes with a confidence rating and the comparable short-term rentals it is based on.

Each deal page shows the estimate, the cleaning fees for the same 12 months, the confidence rating and the number of comparables, the 25th to 75th percentile range of the comparables' revenue, and a table of the comparables themselves: size, 12-month revenue, nightly rate, rating, distance and links to their public listings where available.

Revenue is the top line of the cash-flow model. There is no separate vacancy line, because the model starts from estimated annual revenue, which already reflects occupancy. If the estimate comes back empty, or none of the comparables report revenue, the deal page is kept out of search engines.

The address analyzer runs the same models on an address you enter. If the home isn't an active listing, it starts from an estimated home value instead of a list price and says so.

Cash flow starts from estimated annual revenue and subtracts operating costs and the mortgage:

• Operating expenses = management + booking platform fees + maintenance (each a share of revenue) + utilities + HOA dues + property tax + insurance.
• Net operating income (NOI) = revenue − operating expenses.
• Monthly cash flow = (NOI − a year of mortgage payments) ÷ 12.
• Cash needed = down payment + closing costs + furniture for an unfurnished home (the full price instead of the down payment when buying with cash).
• Cash-on-cash return = annual cash flow ÷ cash needed. Cap rate = NOI ÷ price. DSCR = NOI ÷ annual mortgage payments.
• Year-1 return on equity (ROE) = (annual cash flow + principal paid down in year 1 + year-1 home-value growth) ÷ cash needed. You can choose to add year-1 tax savings at your bracket.

Mortgage rate

The rate is the latest Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey average for the loan term, with the St. Louis Fed's FRED copy of the survey as a backup, plus 0.75% for an investment-property loan. We check for a new survey every day at 00:00 UTC and again before each daily scoring run; Freddie Mac publishes it weekly. The table above lists the fallbacks used when the stored survey is out of date.

The feed recalculates cash flow from each listing's stored inputs at today's rate and with the financing you pick (down payment, 15- or 30-year term, all cash, self-managed), so a rate change shows up without re-scoring the listing. On a deal page you can also change the purchase price, down payment, rate and tax bracket.

The “Yr-1 write-off” on every deal estimates the first-year depreciation deduction if you bought the home, had a cost segregation study done and took bonus depreciation. It is a model-based estimate, not an engineered study. The free cost segregation calculator uses the same engine.

1. Split land from building. Land can't be depreciated. We take the land and building values from the most recent county tax record that splits them (market values first, assessed values second) and apply that land share to the price. With no split on record, we use a default land share for the market and mark the deal “Est. land %”.
2. Set the basis. The basis is the price minus land. Closing costs are added only when you enter them. Furniture that comes with a furnished listing is valued as used and taken out of the price before the land split.
3. Price the components. Each part of the home is priced at replacement cost from the National Association of Home Builders' 2024 construction cost breakdown, scaled to the home's size, indexed to 2026 prices and reduced for age. The building basis is then shared across the components in proportion to those values.
4. Classify them. In the headline estimate, 5-year property includes appliances; carpet, vinyl and laminate floors; window coverings; kitchen cabinets and countertops; decorative trim, shelving and mirrors; kitchen and laundry equipment plumbing and electrical; and furniture. 15-year land improvements include driveways and walks, landscaping, patios, decks, fences, pools and irrigation. Everything else (structure, roof, building plumbing and electrical, HVAC, hardwood and tile) is the building. Condos get no site work, because the association owns it.
5. Take year 1. 5- and 15-year property gets 100% bonus depreciation. The building is 39-year nonresidential real property, because average stays under 30 days make the use transient. It is depreciated straight line with the mid-month convention from the month it is placed in service, and it never gets bonus. If you set bonus below 100% and the home is placed in service in October to December, the model applies the mid-quarter convention to the 5- and 15-year property not taken as bonus.

The headline is what a typical residential cost segregation study would claim. Each deal page also shows a conservative figure that follows the residential classification table in the IRS Cost Segregation Audit Techniques Guide, which keeps kitchen cabinets and countertops, trim, built-in shelving, attached mirrors and attached decks in the building. An optional questionnaire on the deal page (furnished, game room, hot tub, pool, deck, fence, irrigation, driveway, landscaping, flooring, closing costs, land share, placed-in-service month, bonus percentage, long-term rental) refines both.

What the tax estimate does not cover

• State taxes. It is federal only, and states treat bonus depreciation differently.
• Whether you can use the loss against other income. That depends on the passive activity rules, including the short-term rental exception (average stay of 7 days or less plus material participation). The estimate shows the size of the deduction, not whether you can use it.
• The alternative minimum tax.
• A site inspection. The estimate works from what the listing says, and the county land share can understate land value.

The feed's default “Recommended” order starts from each deal's year-1 ROE (cash-on-cash when ROE isn't available), capped so one implausible number can't dominate. It then subtracts penalties when the revenue estimate rests on few comparables or a low confidence rating, when revenue looks high for the price or sits well above the comparables' upper quartile. The other sorts (ROE, cash-on-cash, cap rate, write-off, newest, price) order by that one number.

Deals can carry these flags:

• STR restricted?: The listing description reads like a ban on short stays, such as “no short-term rentals”, “nightly rentals prohibited” or a 30-day minimum. These listings are left out of the feed and the daily email.
• Low confidence: The revenue estimate's confidence score is below 40, or it rests on fewer than 8 comparable rentals.
• Est. land %: No county tax record splits land from building, so the market's default land share was used.
• High HOA: HOA dues above $500 a month.
• Negative cash flow: Monthly cash flow is below zero with the default financing.

• Revenue estimates come from third-party short-term rental market data. Actual income depends on management, condition, furnishing, reviews and local demand, and can differ a lot from any estimate.
• Listing data can lag. A home may have sold, changed price or been withdrawn before our next check. Confirm details with the listing agent.
• Flags come from listing text and simple thresholds. A missing “STR restricted?” flag doesn't mean short-term rentals are allowed. Rules change and vary by city and zone; verify with the local jurisdiction before you buy.
• Nothing here is tax, legal, financial or investment advice. Check the numbers with a CPA, a lender and the local jurisdiction before you make an offer.

If a listing, an estimate or anything on this page looks wrong, email hello@stryield.com with the deal link and what you think is off. See the contact page for other questions.