Research from the portfolio

How Miami condo owners use short-term rental yield to absorb six-figure special assessments under Florida SB 4-D. Building-tier analysis, yield-to-assessment math, 2026 market data.

Miami Beach and Brickell sit seven miles apart and share almost nothing in their short-term rental frameworks. One operates under a resiliency code that prohibits rentals across most residential zones and enforces fines starting at $20,000. The other falls under Miami 21's transect system, where most condo towers sit in zones that technically exclude lodging — and where HOA bylaws function as a second regulatory layer the city never wrote. A zoning-by-zoning breakdown for absentee owners evaluating Miami acquisitions.

Houston has no zoning code and one of the lightest STR regulatory frameworks in the country. But investors get shut down by HOA deed restrictions, not city ordinances — and some of the most investable neighborhoods aren't in Houston at all. A legal and operational breakdown of the three-layer regulatory structure, the Tarr precedent, and the 30-day threshold that changes everything.

The Texas Medical Center employs 106,000 people, hosts 10 million patient encounters annually, and generates $25 billion in regional economic impact. That demand creates a distinct short-term rental thesis: 30-day executive stays that produce higher net yields than nightly bookings while reducing turnover costs by 70–80%. A financial analysis of what the numbers actually look like.

National platforms like Vacasa and Evolve manage tens of thousands of properties through centralized systems. Local operators manage dozens through embedded teams. Both models work. Neither works for everything. For owners of $2M+ coastal estates in hurricane-prone, high-humidity markets, the structural differences between these models translate directly into asset preservation, guest experience, and net yield. Here's the decision framework.

Gross revenue is a vanity metric. In coastal and tropical luxury STRs, net yield is dictated by environmental utility loads, accelerated mechanical depreciation, and climate-driven revenue displacement. Tier-specific benchmarks from $3M+ portfolios across Miami, Tulum, and Houston.

Operating costs in luxury short-term rentals consume 40–55% of gross revenue — and most investor pro formas undercount them by 15–20 percentage points. A line-by-line breakdown of fixed costs, variable costs, platform fees, and the CapEx reserve that separates sustainable yield from paper returns.

Short-term rentals on properties valued above $2M can produce annual returns in the 7–12% range. But that premium only materializes under specific operational conditions.

Project annualized returns across three operating scenarios. Direct booking model — no OTA commissions.