Can your buyer
actually Airbnb this?
Address-level short-term rental analysis. Permit requirements, owner-occupancy rules, night caps, tax obligations, zoning overrides, HOA conflicts. Sourced from city ordinances and updated quarterly. Eighty-five seconds per analysis.
Same buyer.
Four very different answers.
An investor buyer asking "can I Airbnb this" gets a different answer in San Francisco than in Aspen, and a different answer again in Miami Beach than in Austin. Watch the engine read each jurisdiction.
San Francisco requires Type 1 (hosted) or Type 2 (unhosted) registration through the Office of Short-Term Rentals. The unit must be the host's primary residence with at least 275 nights per year of personal residency. Unhosted rentals capped at 90 nights per year. Required disclosures include the registration number on every listing.
A listing on the platform
is not a permit.
Plenty of investors look at active Airbnb listings in a market and assume short-term rentals are allowed. They are often wrong, and the city's enforcement office does not care that the prior owner had it listed. The address-level analysis answers the question that actually matters.
Surface-Level Check
- Active listings on the platform say nothing about whether they are permitted
- No visibility into permit type, registration number, or occupancy rules
- Misses HOA, condo association, and zoning overrides specific to the building
- No tax obligation analysis (TOT, sales tax, occupancy tax)
- No statute citations to bring to a buyer or attorney for verification
Address-Level Verdict
- Verdict per address: Allowed, Conditional, or Banned with the rule that drives it
- Permit type, registration cost, owner-occupancy requirement, night caps
- HOA and condo overrides flagged when the building has restrictions
- Tax obligations broken out: TOT rate, filing cadence, registration with the city
- Statute citations and source links so the buyer or their attorney can verify
Four steps,
eighty-five seconds.
Drop the address
Paste the property address. The tool resolves the parcel to a city, county, and zoning district. HOA and condo association overrides flagged if the building is on file.
Pull jurisdiction rules
Eight factors checked against the current city ordinance: permit, occupancy, night cap, hosted vs unhosted, tax, zoning, HOA, penalties. Rules updated quarterly.
Render verdict
Allowed, Conditional, or Banned. The driving rule is named. Plain-language explanation of what the buyer would need to do to legally operate at this address.
Cite + export
Every factor cites the underlying ordinance section and links to the source. Print-ready PDF with white-label firm branding to hand to the buyer or their attorney.
Four properties,
four verdicts.
The featured San Francisco analysis with full citation, plus three abbreviated verdicts at different positions on the regulatory spectrum: permissive (Aspen), moderate (Austin), and effectively banned (Miami Beach residential).
412 Hayes Street, San Francisco
Hayes Valley · SFD · RH-2 zoning · No HOA
Operable as a short-term rental only if the owner makes 412 Hayes their primary residence (275+ nights/year) and registers with the SF Office of Short-Term Rentals as a Type 2 host. Unhosted rentals capped at 90 nights per year, all hosted nights uncapped. The 14 percent Transient Occupancy Tax applies and must be filed quarterly. The registration number must appear on every listing on every platform.
812 South Mill Street, Aspen
Aspen · R-15 zoning · No HOA
Lodging permit required ($150/yr). No owner-occupancy rule. No night cap. 11.3 percent lodge tax filed monthly. Permitted in residential zones with no HOA conflict. Standard for Aspen investment properties.
City of Aspen Lodging Ordinance · Aspen.gov/lodging
2114 East 6th Street, Austin
East Austin · SF-3 zoning · No HOA
Type 2 license required (non-owner-occupied). Capped at 25 percent of single-family units per census tract; this tract is at 22 percent. License $643/yr. 11 percent hotel occupancy tax. Permittable but check tract cap before closing.
Austin Code Ch 25-2-788 · Austin Code & License Office
1320 Bay Road, Miami Beach
North Beach · RM-1 residential · HOA bylaws restrict
Short-term rentals (under 6 months) prohibited in RM-1 residential zoning per municipal code. HOA bylaws independently restrict to 30-day minimum stays. Per-violation fines start at $20,000. Not operable as STR at any tier.
Miami Beach Code Sec. 142-905 · HOA bylaws Art. VII
Eight factors,
one verdict.
Each analysis runs the address against eight regulatory dimensions. Any one of these can flip a property from Allowed to Conditional, or from Conditional to Banned. The verdict is the joint result.
Permit Required
Whether the city requires a registration, license, or permit before listing. Permit class, application fee, and renewal cadence noted.
Owner Occupancy
Whether the address must be the host's primary residence. Some markets allow non-owner-occupied STR; many do not. Residency proof requirements noted.
Max Nights / Year
Annual cap on rental nights, often distinguishing between hosted (owner present) and unhosted (whole property) days. The cap drives the property's economic ceiling.
Hosted vs Unhosted
Many cities differentiate between hosted (owner on site) and unhosted (whole-property) rentals. Different permit classes and different night caps usually apply.
Tax Obligations
Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT), hotel occupancy tax, sales tax, and lodge taxes vary by jurisdiction. Filing cadence and direct-collection rules surfaced.
Zoning Restrictions
Even within a permissive city, specific residential zones may prohibit STR. The address is checked against the property's actual zoning district, not the city default.
HOA / Condo Overrides
HOA bylaws and condo association covenants can restrict STR even where the city allows it. Buildings on file have their bylaws checked; unfamiliar buildings get flagged for owner verification.
Penalties
Per-violation fines, registration revocation, and potential criminal exposure if the city operates a stricter regime. Useful context for the buyer who is weighing risk.
Everything that goes
into a defendable verdict.
Address-level resolution
Parcel resolution down to zoning district. Two addresses on the same block can have different verdicts if they sit in different zoning districts. The tool reads to that level.
180+ jurisdictions
All US top-50 metros, all states with state-level STR rules, and 130+ secondary-market cities with active STR ordinances. Updated quarterly as ordinances change.
Statute citations
Every factor cites the underlying ordinance section, with a direct link to the city's source page. Verifiable. Buyer's attorney can independently confirm.
HOA + condo flagging
Buildings on file get bylaws checked for STR-restricting clauses. Unfamiliar buildings get flagged for owner-side verification. The HOA risk is rarely surfaced elsewhere.
Quarterly updates
Ordinances change. The library is reviewed quarterly against city legislative trackers. When a market materially shifts, agents who pulled prior reports get a notification.
White-label PDF
Print-ready PDF with citations, white-label firm branding, and a clear summary the buyer can hand to their attorney. The export is what makes the analysis defensible.
STR Permit Explainer, answered.
No. The tool is informational. It surfaces what current city ordinances and standard HOA bylaws say about short-term rental at a specific address, with citations to the underlying statutes. The buyer or their attorney should independently verify any verdict before relying on it for a transaction. The tool's output is designed to make that verification fast: every factor cites the source so an attorney can confirm in minutes rather than hours.
Updated quarterly. The library is reviewed against city legislative trackers and recent council actions in the top 100 markets. Each verdict shows the "as of" date. When a market materially changes (new permit class, night-cap reduction, zone reclassification), agents who pulled prior reports for that market get an automatic email notification with the diff. We err on the side of marking a verdict Conditional rather than Allowed when an ordinance is mid-litigation or pending council action.
180+ jurisdictions are covered, including all US top-50 metros, all states with state-level STR rules, and 130+ secondary-market cities. If the city is not in the library, the tool returns a state-level analysis with a flag noting that local-level rules may further restrict. Most secondary-market gaps are added within 30 days of an agent request, since coverage requests are batched and prioritized.
Buildings on file (typically condos and master-planned communities with publicly available CC&Rs) have their bylaws scanned for STR-restricting clauses (minimum stay, leasing restrictions, association approval requirements). The tool returns the relevant clause text along with the verdict. Buildings not on file get flagged in the export with a note recommending the buyer obtain bylaws from the listing agent or association before closing.
Yes. The two most common use cases are buyer-side investment property analysis ("can I Airbnb this") and listing-side disclosure ("the seller has been operating as STR, here are the actual rules"). Some agents also generate the report at offer time and attach it to inspection-period contingencies. The white-label PDF format is designed to be read by attorneys and to hold up if introduced into a transaction record.
Pair STR Permit Explainer
with these.
VR Calculator
Once the address is verified as Allowed or Conditional, run the vacation rental return analysis to project occupancy and ADR yield.
View Tool → Investment & AnalysisBRRRR Analyzer
For investor buyers weighing STR vs long-term rental conversion under BRRRR. The permit verdict tells you whether the STR exit even exists.
View Tool → Investment & AnalysisInvestor Pitch
Fold the permit verdict into the investor pitch. Citation-grade compliance section adds defensibility to the underwriting case.
View Tool → Client WorkBuyer Tour Brief
For investor-buyer tours, attach the permit verdict to each property's tour brief so the buyer walks in already knowing the regulatory ceiling.
View Tool →STR Permit Explainer is an informational tool. Verdicts surface what current city ordinances and standard HOA bylaws say about short-term rental at a given address, with citations. This is not legal advice. The buyer or their attorney should independently verify any verdict before relying on it for a transaction.
Stop checking Airbnb.
Start citing the ordinance.
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