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Buying a Cuyahoga Falls, OH Rental in 2026: What to Underwrite

Sep 2
12 min read
Cuyahoga River falls and gorge in downtown Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Wikimedia: Cuyahoga Falls.JPG

Anyone underwriting a Cuyahoga Falls short-term rental purchase needs one defensible number to start from, and Air ROI's extract, covering the August 2025 through July 2026 window, provides it: typical Cuyahoga Falls listings earned about $21,237 last year, drawn from 56 active rentals. That figure is the anchor for this page. Everything else — ADR, occupancy, RevPAR, seasonality, and registration — sits underneath it, and a buyer who works from the underlying pieces rather than the single headline number ends up with a far more reliable purchase model.


The $21,237 figure breaks down into an average nightly rate of about $194, an occupancy rate of 44.6 percent, and a RevPAR of about $89 per available night once empty nights are folded into the average. Year over year on this same extract, revenue moved about minus 12.0 percent while supply grew roughly 69.7 percent — a combination worth sitting with before you sign anything, because it describes a market absorbing new listings faster than revenue per listing is growing.


What follows walks through the headline figures, the guest profile driving them, the seasonal calendar, a separate look at Akron for context, the registration question every buyer has to answer, and finally a practical way to put all of it into your own underwriting model rather than borrowing someone else's assumptions. This is not legal advice.


The headline figures a buyer should underwrite from

Active short-term rental supply in Cuyahoga Falls, per the August 2025 through July 2026 extract, sits at 56 listings. Typical revenue across those listings was about $21,237 for the year, at an average nightly rate of $194 and 44.6 percent occupancy. Multiply rate against occupancy and account for the empty nights that pull the raw average down, and you land on a RevPAR of about $89 per available night — the single figure that best represents what a typical night of listing stock was actually worth across the full calendar, not just the nights that sold.


The year-over-year read matters as much as the level. Revenue moved about minus 12.0 percent while supply expanded roughly 69.7 percent in this sample, which is a meaningfully different signal than a flat or growing revenue line paired with flat supply. A market adding new listings that fast, while typical revenue per listing is contracting rather than holding steady, is not a market where a buyer should assume the current $21,237 figure represents a rising baseline. It's closer to a snapshot of a market in the middle of absorbing new supply, and a purchase model built on the assumption that this year's number simply repeats next year is underwriting on hope rather than on the extract in front of you.


Who actually books a Cuyahoga Falls stay

Most guests arrive from Columbus, then Pittsburgh, and the typical stay runs about 4.6 nights. That's a shorter, more concentrated booking pattern than a long-stay or extended-work market, and it has direct implications for how you underwrite turnover costs, cleaning frequency, and calendar management. A 4.6-night average stay means more turnovers per month than a 10-night average would produce at the same occupancy level, and a buyer's pro forma should build cleaning and linen costs around that shorter cadence rather than a generic assumption borrowed from a different kind of market.


About 39.3 percent of Cuyahoga Falls listings already set a 30-night minimum stay, which sits oddly next to a 4.6-night typical stay length. That gap is worth noting rather than ignoring: a meaningful share of the active supply appears to be pursuing a different guest type than the one the extract shows is actually booking most often. A buyer evaluating an existing listing with a 30-night minimum should ask whether that setting is capturing real long-stay demand or simply screening out the shorter-stay guest who represents the bulk of this market's actual booking pattern.


Reading the calendar before you close

August, October, and June stand out as the peak months in this sample, giving Cuyahoga Falls a three-month spread of strong performance rather than a single narrow weekend to build a whole year's underwriting around. February is the clear revenue hole, and occupancy is weakest in that same month — the extract doesn't show a case where the slow revenue month and the slow occupancy month land in different places, which makes February the one month a buyer should plan for deliberately rather than pricing on autopilot.


For underwriting purposes, that means building a twelve-month revenue model with August, October, and June carrying real weight, and February modeled conservatively rather than averaged flat across the calendar. A buyer who takes the $21,237 annual figure and divides it evenly by twelve is building a model that doesn't match how the extract actually distributes revenue across the year, and that mismatch shows up first in February, when a flat-rate assumption overstates what the month will actually produce.


Akron, kept on its own line

Akron listings earned about $13,337 last year from 309 active rentals on the same August 2025 through July 2026 extract. That's a real number from a real, much larger market, and it belongs on its own line rather than blended into Cuyahoga Falls' figures. Akron's active supply is more than five times Cuyahoga Falls' 56 listings, and averaging the two together into one regional number would misrepresent both markets rather than clarify either one for a buyer trying to underwrite a specific parcel.


A buyer packet built for a Cuyahoga Falls purchase should carry $21,237 on 56 listings as its own figure, with Akron's $13,337 on 309 listings cited separately for context only. Confirm remaining registration separately for whichever city the parcel actually sits in — the desk that governs a Cuyahoga Falls property is not the same desk that governs an Akron property, and treating them as interchangeable is one of the more avoidable mistakes a cross-market buyer can make.


The registration question a buyer has to answer

Cuyahoga Falls sits under remaining Chapter 163 Transient Occupancy Registration files, administered by the City of Cuyahoga Falls Income Tax Division. That registration requirement sits entirely outside anything the revenue extract can measure — a listing counted among the 56 active rentals in this report may or may not carry current registration, and the extract simply has no way to tell you which. Confirm remaining registration status directly with the City of Cuyahoga Falls before you close, not after.


Layered on top of city registration is Summit County's lodging excise tax, which the county's fiscal office lists at 5.5 percent, plus Ohio's state sales tax treatment of lodging stays under 30 days, at 3 percent county and 3 percent township. None of those figures are optional line items to skip in a purchase model — they're recurring obligations that affect net returns regardless of how strong the topline revenue figure looks, and a buyer who underwrites off gross revenue without netting out registration and tax obligations is working from an incomplete number.


What the 30-night minimum tells you about existing listings

When you're evaluating an existing short-term rental as a purchase target, the 30-night minimum question deserves a specific look rather than a passing glance. About 39.3 percent of the 56 active Cuyahoga Falls listings already use that setting, and if the property you're underwriting is one of them, it's worth asking the seller directly whether that setting reflects an intentional long-stay strategy backed by real bookings, or a defensive setting adopted for reasons unrelated to actual guest demand.


Since typical stay across the whole extract is still about 4.6 nights, a 30-night minimum on a specific listing is, more often than not, filtering out the guest type the broader market is actually converting. A buyer underwriting that property's trailing revenue should ask whether the seller's historical numbers reflect performance under that 30-night setting or under a shorter, more typical minimum — the answer changes what you should expect once you take over the calendar and potentially adjust the setting yourself.


Building your own underwriting model from this data

Start with $21,237 as your baseline annual revenue assumption, not your ceiling and not your floor — it's the typical figure across 56 active listings, and a specific unit's condition, location, and management quality will move it in either direction. Layer in $194 as your baseline ADR and 44.6 percent as your baseline occupancy, and stress-test both downward given the minus 12.0 percent year-over-year revenue trend in this sample; a model that assumes flat or growing revenue when the trailing data shows contraction is optimistic in a way the numbers don't currently support.


Build cleaning and turnover costs around a 4.6-night average stay rather than a longer-stay assumption, unless the specific property you're evaluating has a documented, demand-driven reason to run a 30-night minimum. Net out Summit County's 5.5 percent lodging excise tax and Ohio's 3 percent county plus 3 percent township sales tax on stays under 30 days before you calculate your real return, and confirm remaining Chapter 163 registration status with the City of Cuyahoga Falls Income Tax Division as a closing condition, not an afterthought.


Finally, build your model on a monthly basis rather than a single annual line, weighting August, October, and June above the annual average and February below it, since a flat monthly assumption misrepresents both the strong months and the slow one. Ask any seller for month-by-month trailing revenue rather than accepting a single annual total, because the annual figure alone can hide a property that's actually underperforming during peak months while riding a strong February that doesn't match the broader market's seasonal pattern — a mismatch worth investigating before you finalize an offer on any specific parcel.


Where Cuyahoga Falls sits relative to a fast-growing supply base

A 69.7 percent year-over-year increase in active listings is a fast pace of new supply entering a single market, and it's worth asking what that growth means for the property you're underwriting specifically. Faster-growing supply generally puts downward pressure on occupancy and rate for existing listings, particularly ones that haven't kept pace with newer, better-photographed, more aggressively priced competition — and the minus 12.0 percent revenue trend on this same extract is consistent with that kind of pressure showing up in the topline number already.


That doesn't mean Cuyahoga Falls is a market to avoid; it means a buyer should underwrite toward the specific competitive advantages a given property can offer — location, unit quality, photography, and pricing discipline — rather than assuming the market's rising tide will carry a mediocre listing to strong returns. In a market absorbing new supply this quickly, the listings that keep pace are the ones actively managed against the current data, not the ones coasting on last year's numbers, and a buyer's diligence should include a frank look at how the seller has managed pricing through this stretch of rapid supply growth.


A note on a discrepancy in the underlying research

One figure in the source research behind this page deserves a direct flag rather than a silent correction: a single reference cites 18 active rentals alongside the same $21,237 revenue figure, while every other reference in the same research — repeated consistently across multiple independent mentions — ties that $21,237 figure to 56 active listings. This page uses 56 as the active-listing count throughout, since it's the number that appears consistently across the underlying material, but a buyer doing independent diligence should be aware that the source data contains this inconsistency and should ask Air ROI or a comparable data provider to confirm the exact listing count directly rather than treating either number as automatically settled.


This kind of discrepancy is exactly why a serious purchase shouldn't rest on a single cited statistic pulled from a single source without cross-checking. Pull your own current listing count for Cuyahoga Falls short-term rentals from a live data platform before you finalize an offer, and treat the $21,237 revenue figure as directionally useful — a real, sourced number worth anchoring to — rather than as a precision figure accurate to the dollar. The seasonality, ADR, occupancy, and RevPAR figures elsewhere in this report were consistent across every reference in the underlying research and don't carry this same flag.


Related Reading

More Buying a Cuyahoga Falls, OH Rental in 2026 host reading on desks, calendars, and listing clarity.


Frequently Asked Questions

How much did a typical Cuyahoga Falls short-term rental earn last year?

About $21,237 in typical annual revenue, based on Air ROI's August 2025 through July 2026 extract of 56 active listings. That figure works out to roughly $194 a night at 44.6 percent occupancy, or about $89 in revenue per available night once empty nights are averaged into the RevPAR calculation across the full twelve-month period covered by the extract.


Is the Cuyahoga Falls market growing or shrinking?

Both directions are moving at once. Revenue fell about minus 12.0 percent year over year in this sample, while active listing supply grew roughly 69.7 percent over the same period. That combination points toward a market absorbing a fast wave of new listings while typical revenue per listing contracts, which is a different underwriting picture than flat revenue paired with flat supply, and it argues for conservative rather than optimistic revenue assumptions.


How does Cuyahoga Falls compare to Akron?

Akron listings earned about $13,337 typically last year from 309 active rentals on the same extract window, compared to Cuyahoga Falls' $21,237 across 56 listings. The two markets should stay on separate lines in any underwriting packet rather than being blended into one regional average, since Akron's supply is more than five times larger and its guest pattern differs enough to distort a combined figure.


Do I need to confirm registration before buying a Cuyahoga Falls rental?

Yes. Cuyahoga Falls sits under remaining Chapter 163 Transient Occupancy Registration files, administered by the City of Cuyahoga Falls Income Tax Division. A property's presence in the revenue extract says nothing about its registration status, so confirm that separately and directly with the city before closing on any purchase, and make it a written condition of the sale rather than a verbal assurance from the seller.


What taxes should I net out of gross revenue when underwriting?

Summit County's lodging excise tax is 5.5 percent, and Ohio applies sales tax to lodging stays under 30 days at 3 percent county plus 3 percent township. Both are recurring obligations, not one-time closing costs, so they belong in your ongoing net-revenue model rather than being treated as a line item you only check once during due diligence and then forget.


How long do guests typically stay in Cuyahoga Falls?

About 4.6 nights on average, with most guests arriving from Columbus, then Pittsburgh. That shorter stay length should shape your turnover and cleaning cost assumptions in a purchase model, since a 4.6-night average produces more turnovers per month than a longer-stay market would generate at the same occupancy level, which raises your effective operating cost per booked night.


Why do some Cuyahoga Falls listings use a 30-night minimum if typical stays are shorter?

About 39.3 percent of the 56 active listings set a 30-night minimum despite a 4.6-night typical stay across the broader extract. That gap suggests some hosts are pursuing long-stay guests who aren't the dominant booking pattern here. If you're evaluating a listing with that setting, ask the seller directly whether it reflects real, documented long-stay demand or a defensive workaround.


Which months should I plan for as peak revenue in a purchase model?

August, October, and June stand out as peak months in this sample, giving Cuyahoga Falls a three-month spread rather than one narrow peak weekend. Build your twelve-month revenue model around that spread instead of averaging annual revenue evenly across all twelve months, since that flat approach won't match the extract's actual seasonal distribution across the year.


Is February a month I should underwrite conservatively?

Yes. February is the clear revenue hole in this sample, and occupancy is also weakest in that same month. A twelve-month model that treats February the same as August, October, or June will overstate what the month realistically produces, so plan pricing and minimum-stay strategy for it deliberately rather than on autopilot, and budget accordingly for that stretch.


Should I assume next year's revenue will match this year's $21,237 figure?

Not automatically. With revenue down about minus 12.0 percent year over year while supply grew roughly 69.7 percent, a model assuming flat or rising revenue isn't supported by the trailing data. Underwrite toward property-specific advantages like location, unit quality, and pricing discipline rather than assuming a rising market will lift a mediocre listing regardless of management.


Why does this page cite both 56 and mention a conflicting listing count?

The source research contains one reference to 18 active rentals alongside the same $21,237 figure, while every other reference ties that figure to 56 listings. This page uses 56 consistently, since it's the number repeated across the underlying material, but flags the discrepancy so buyers can independently verify the current listing count rather than treating either figure as settled without a cross-check.


Work with Crest & Cove Creative

One extract, 56 listings, and a single defensible number: $21,237 in typical Cuyahoga Falls short-term rental revenue to underwrite a 2026 purchase against. Name the failure mode the guest can check on the listing.


Anchor your purchase model to this sample's $194 ADR, 44.6 percent occupancy, and $89 RevPAR, and confirm remaining Chapter 163 registration with the City of Cuyahoga Falls Income Tax Division before you close on any parcel. Name the failure mode the guest can check on the listing.


Reach out at crestcove.co or (256) 998-7502.

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