Buying a Pella Rental: Cite $20,593, Do Not Remesh 240

Jacob Mishalanie
2 days ago
7 min read

Updated: 1 day ago

Empty Molengracht canal street Pella Iowa, no people

AirROI's current Pella extract, August 2025 through July 2026, pins typical listings at about $20,593 a year on 56 active rentals. The average night was $191. Occupancy was 38.7 percent. Revenue per available night was $78. Year over year is minus 11.8 percent. Active supply moved plus 36.6 percent. Des Moines city cluster 240 is already LIVE at $16,916 on 619 listings. Do not remesh it. Do not average Pella $20,593 with that city year. Winterset has no AirROI extract on this pass. Do not invent a Winterset year. A separate Rabbu pass printed Pella at 24 listings and about $22,939. Do not average. Call Pella City Clerk Mandy Smith at 641-628-4173. 825 Broadway Street. Planning and Zoning 641-628-0043. Iowa Code 414.1: no city STR-specific CUP or STR-specific license/permit fee on this research pass. STR classified as residential. Generally applicable health and safety still allowed. State hotel and motel tax is 5 percent. Confirm remaining Pella local hotel tax at Iowa DOR. Confirm 2026. AirROI's low-regulation scrape is not the clerk file. Confirm remaining Winterset clerk before you advertise a Madison County driveway. Des Moines Development Services 515-283-4200 is the 240 city hall. Do not remesh 240.

DSCR Starts on $20,593

The Real Question Is the Clerk, Not a Guessed Cap

56 active listings is a gallery. Superhost share is 78.6 percent. Professionally managed share is 21.4 percent. Andrea holds 3 listings. Entire homes are 92.9 percent. Houses are 58.9 percent. Complete Visitor's Guide to Pella and the Covere is already live on Crest and Cove. Use it for the related stay, not as a blended year.

Year Over Year Is Minus 11.8 Percent

August is the busiest month. May and September are the other strong months. February is the slowest. Stay is 4.2 nights. Lead is 62 days. Most guests arrive from Des Moines, then Omaha. What It Costs to Start a Legal Pella STR Stay 20 is already live on Crest and Cove. Use it for the related stay, not as a blended year.

Supply Plus 36.6 Percent

Call Pella City Clerk Mandy Smith at 641-628-4173. 825 Broadway Street. Planning and Zoning 641-628-0043. Iowa Code 414.1: no city STR-specific CUP or STR-specific license/permit fee on this research pass. STR classified as residential. Generally applicable health and safety still allowed. State hotel and motel tax is 5 percent. Confirm remaining Pella local hotel tax at Iowa DOR. Confirm 2026. AirROI's low-regulation scrape is not the clerk file. Confirm remaining Winterset clerk before you advertise a Madison County driveway. Des Moines Development Services 515-283-4200 is the 240 city hall. Do not remesh 240. Financing a Pella Rental Without a Des Moines Ye is already live on Crest and Cove. Use it for the related stay, not as a blended year.

Winterset Has No Extract to Average

Des Moines listings earned about $16,916 last year from 619 active rentals on the current AirROI extract used for the already-LIVE 240 city cluster. Keep that stay on its own line. Do not remesh 240. Winterset has no AirROI extract on this pass. Do not invent a Winterset year, listing count, or ADR. Name Roseman Bridge, Holliwell Bridge, and the John Wayne Birthplace Museum as visitor demand, not occupancy. Pella vs Winterset Desks is already live on Crest and Cove. Use it for the related stay, not as a blended year.

The Desk Sits With the Deed

Tulip Time 2026 was May 7 through 9. Tulip Time 2027 is May 6 through 8. Covered Bridge Festival is October 10 through 11, 2026. Confirm hours. Do not invent a visitor count as occupancy. Pella vs Winterset is already live on Crest and Cove. Use it for the related stay, not as a blended year.

Independent Ownership Changes the Hire

Downtown Pella, Lake Red Rock, and Winterset's courthouse square are three occasions. Write the one the house can actually host. Towns Near Des Moines is already live on Crest and Cove. Use it for the related stay, not as a blended year.

What a Buyer Packet Should Carry

How a host should read this map is to file Pella $20,593, leave Winterset uncounted, and leave Des Moines 240 on its own live line. Market a Pella Stay is already live on Crest and Cove. Use it for the related stay, not as a blended year.

Hosts who underwrite Pella stays should keep $20,593 on 56 town listings, call 641-628-4173, leave Winterset uncounted, and leave Des Moines 240 on its own live line. We market. We do not take the lock.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did a typical Pella short-term rental earn last year?

AirROI's current extract, running August 2025 through July 2026, puts typical Pella listings at about $20,593 a year across 56 active rentals. The average nightly rate was $191, occupancy came in at 38.7 percent, and revenue per available night landed at $78. Revenue is down 11.8 percent year over year even though active supply grew 36.6 percent over the same window. A buyer working from an older figure is already working from a stale file.

Is there a second data source for Pella rental income?

Yes. A separate Rabbu pass, pulled independently of AirROI, priced Pella at roughly $22,939 across a smaller 24-listing sample. That is a useful second read on the same market, not a number to average into the AirROI figure, since the two pulls use different listing sets and different methodology. Cite whichever source you're using, and say which one it is.

How many active listings make up the Pella sample?

The current AirROI extract counts 56 active Pella listings. That is a workable gallery for reading typical performance, but it is still a small-town sample, not a metro-scale dataset that smooths out individual house variation. A single well-photographed listing or a single slow month can move the average more than it would in a larger market. Treat the $20,593 figure as a directional year, not a guarantee.

Why did revenue decline 11.8 percent while supply grew?

Active supply moved up 36.6 percent on this extract while revenue moved down 11.8 percent, which is the classic signature of new listings entering a market faster than demand absorbs them. More houses are splitting a similar guest pool, which pressures both occupancy and rate. A buyer underwriting a new purchase should build that supply growth into the pro forma rather than assuming last year's per-listing average holds steady.

Who manages Pella's short-term rentals, independent hosts or property managers?

Independent hosts run most of this market. Superhost share sits at 78.6 percent, while professionally managed listings are 21.4 percent of the sample, with the largest single operator, Andrea, holding just 3 listings. That ownership structure matters for a buyer: there is no dominant management company setting the pricing floor, so a new owner's own execution does more of the work than it would in a corporate-managed market.

What type of property performs in the Pella market?

Entire homes make up 92.9 percent of active Pella listings, and houses specifically account for 58.9 percent of the sample. That tells a buyer what the demand pattern is already built around: whole-house privacy, not a shared-space or room-rental product. A listing that deviates from that pattern, such as a single room or an accessory unit, is competing against a market that mostly isn't built that way.

Do I need a permit to operate a short-term rental in Pella?

Call the Pella City Clerk's office at 641-628-4173, 825 Broadway Street, or Planning and Zoning at 641-628-0043, before you advertise. On this research pass, Iowa Code 414.1 classifies short-term rentals as residential use, and no dedicated city STR-specific permit or license fee was confirmed. State hotel and motel tax runs 5 percent, and any additional local hotel tax should be confirmed directly with the Iowa Department of Revenue. This is not legal advice, and it does not substitute for the clerk's current answer.

Which months carry the most revenue for a Pella rental?

August is the strongest month in this dataset, with May and September also running ahead of the annual average; May's rate lift lines up with Tulip Time. February is the weakest month by a clear margin. A buyer building a monthly pro forma should model those three strong months and the February gap explicitly instead of dividing $20,593 evenly across twelve months, which would misstate both the peak and the hole.

How long do guests typically stay in Pella?

The average stay on this sample runs 4.2 nights, and guests book about 62 days ahead of arrival. That booking window is long enough to plan targeted pricing moves around Tulip Time and the August peak, rather than reacting to same-week demand. A buyer evaluating turnover costs and cleaning cadence should size those expenses against a roughly weekend-plus-a-few-nights pattern, not a month-long-stay model.

Does the county auditor's office affect which market data applies to a Pella property?

Marion County's auditor is Jake Grandia, whose office sits in Knoxville, the county seat, and that office is the right place to confirm parcel, tax, and assessment records for a Pella address. It does not change which market figures apply to the listing itself. A Pella property still gets underwritten on the Pella extract, not on a countywide or county-seat number, even though the paperwork runs through Knoxville.

Work with Crest & Cove Creative

A buyer packet that quotes the wrong year, or averages Pella against a market it isn't, undersells or oversells the house before an underwriter ever sees the listing itself.

We help independent hosts build a marketing story that matches this specific Pella listing: the right photos, the right seasonal pricing story, and copy that names this town, not a generic Iowa placeholder.

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