What a Vilano Beach Rental Purchase Should Actually Underwrite in 2026

Vilano Beach sits on its own strip of sand across the Vilano Bridge from St. Augustine, and it gets treated like a rounding error in a lot of buyer packets that quietly borrow numbers from the city across the water. If you're pricing a short-term rental purchase in Vilano Beach right now, the extract that actually belongs to this driveway shows about $63,182 in typical annual revenue across 161 listings. That is the only figure that should carry your underwriting math. Everything else circling this market - St. Augustine Beach, the broader City of St. Augustine blend - is a different parcel, a different tax desk, and in one case a market moving in the opposite direction.

This isn't a sales pitch for buying here or not buying here. It's a walk through what the numbers actually say, what the county's rules require before you can operate, and where a buyer packet quietly goes wrong by reaching for a bigger or friendlier figure from next door. This is not legal advice.

The $63,182 Figure Is Vilano's, Not the Beach Town Next Door's

The extract for Vilano Beach itself - 161 active listings - puts typical annual revenue at roughly $63,182, with an average daily rate near $492, occupancy around 40.0 percent, and RevPAR around $199. That combination is the one you want a lender or a spreadsheet to see, because it's built from listings that actually sit on this stretch of sand, inside this parcel's tax jurisdiction, subject to this county's rules.

It's a smaller, higher-rate market than the raw square footage would suggest - 161 listings is a real but modest listing stock, and a 40 percent occupancy rate paired with a near-$500 ADR tells you this is a market that leans on rate more than nightly volume. That's a meaningfully different operating posture than a market chasing occupancy with a lower rate, and it should shape how you model your own listing's calendar rather than assuming you'll fill every week.

St. Augustine Beach's $41,633 Is a Different City, Moving a Different Direction

St. Augustine Beach is its own incorporated city, south of Vilano across the inlet, and its extract shows typical revenue around $41,633 - noticeably lower than Vilano's number. More important than the gap in dollars is the direction each market is moving. Vilano's year-over-year change sits at roughly minus 10.5 percent with supply up about 20.1 percent, which reads as a market absorbing new listings faster than demand is currently keeping pace. St. Augustine Beach's year-over-year change is far steeper at roughly minus 41.0 percent, with supply up around 320.0 percent - an enormous influx of new listings landing on a market that's cooling hard.

If a packet borrows the St. Augustine Beach number to make a Vilano deal look better, it's not just citing the wrong town - it's citing a market under considerably more supply pressure than the one the parcel actually sits in. And if it borrows the St. Augustine Beach trendline to explain away softness in Vilano's own numbers, it's importing a decline that's roughly four times steeper than what Vilano itself is showing.

The City of St. Augustine's $36,982 Blend Is Even Further From the Parcel

There's a third figure that shows up in some packets: a City of St. Augustine blended number around $36,982 across 745 listings. That's not a beach-town figure at all - it's a much larger, more diverse listing stock that includes downtown historic-district rentals, inland properties, and a mix of stay types that have nothing to do with a beachfront or near-beach parcel in Vilano. Blending 745 listings across an entire incorporated city produces a number that's technically real but structurally meaningless for a Vilano underwrite. It dilutes beach premium with downtown and inland comparables that command different rates for different reasons.

The rule here is simple and worth writing on the top of the packet: a Vilano purchase gets underwritten on the Vilano extract. Not the beach town across the inlet, and not the citywide blend. Two places, two tax desks, two very different trend lines - keep them on separate labeled lines and don't let a spreadsheet quietly average them together.

Who's Actually Holding listing stock on this market

The 161-listing Vilano extract isn't 161 independent operators each running one property. Two named management companies show up holding a meaningful share of that listing stock - one, Wren, holds 9 listings; another, Elite, holds 7. That's roughly ten percent of the visible market sitting under two management umbrellas, which matters if you're trying to read how competitive or fragmented this market actually is. A market with concentrated professional management behaves differently than a market of scattered owner-operators - pricing tends to be more disciplined, and the comparable set you're measuring against includes properties professionally managed rather than DIY-run.

If you're buying with the intent to self-manage, it's worth knowing that a chunk of your comparable set is being run by people whose full-time job is optimizing that calendar. That doesn't mean you can't compete - it means your rate and photo strategy should assume a sophisticated baseline, not a market of casual hosts.

What the County Actually Requires Before You List

Vilano Beach sits in unincorporated St. Johns County, which means the operating rules run through the county, not a city desk. The county's tourist development tax (TDT), collected through the Tax Collector's office, runs 5 percent. Occupancy is capped at two guests per bedroom with a hard ceiling of 10 total guests, and the county's published occupancy count excludes children age 12 and under from that cap - worth knowing both for your listing copy and for how you set up sleeping arrangements.

One thing the research pack is explicit about: there's an unverified registration fee reference in some of the source material for this parcel, and it does not get repeated here as fact. If a fee figure isn't confirmed against the current county code, it doesn't belong in a buyer packet or a listing description - a wrong fee number is worse than no fee number, because it sets a false expectation with a lender or a future guest.

Two different phone desks matter here and they are not interchangeable. The county code line sits at (904) 209-0734, and the county's TDT collector sits at (904) 209-2250 - both are St. Johns County desks and both apply to a Vilano parcel. Separately, the City of St. Augustine has its own registration desk at (904) 201-8839, and that desk does not apply to Vilano Beach at all, because Vilano isn't inside city limits. Calling the city desk about a Vilano property gets you an answer for the wrong jurisdiction. City Desk in St. Augustine, for anything else you might need from that city government directly, is (904) 471-2122.

Long-Minimum Listings Aren't Proof of a Filled Calendar

Some of the listing stock on this market runs a 30-night minimum, which is a platform filter choice, not evidence of a filled slow season. A 30-plus night listing shows up differently in occupancy math than a typical short-stay listing, and the extract's own share of that behavior sits around 49.7 percent versus 59.5 percent depending on which subset you're looking at - meaning a meaningful chunk of comparable listing stock is playing a different game than a standard vacation-rental calendar. If a packet points to a long-minimum listing as evidence that October or any other month is 'covered,' that's a settings choice being read as demand, and the two are not the same thing. The $63,182 typical-year figure still prices the actual stay pattern on this market - a long minimum doesn't change what a guest is willing to pay for a short trip, it just changes who's competing for that guest.

Running the Math: Why 'Typical' and 'ADR Times Occupancy' Don't Match

If you multiply the $492 ADR by 40.0 percent occupancy by 365 nights, you get a figure north of $71,000 - noticeably higher than the $63,182 typical-year number the extract actually reports. That gap is worth sitting with rather than picking whichever number flatters the deal more. It most likely means the $63,182 figure is a typical or median outcome across the 161-listing set, while ADR and occupancy are being reported as averages - and averages get pulled upward by a handful of standout properties (possibly some of the professionally managed listings under Wren or Elite) in a way a median doesn't. RevPAR at $199 times 365 lands in the same higher neighborhood, reinforcing that the average-based math and the typical-year figure are answering slightly different questions.

The practical lesson: don't hand a lender a spreadsheet that just multiplies ADR by occupancy by 365 and calls it your revenue projection. That formula tends to overstate what a typical property on this market actually nets. The $63,182 figure is the more conservative, more defensible number to underwrite against, precisely because it already reflects the market's real distribution rather than an idealized average performer.

What a Seller's Trailing Twelve Months Should Actually Match

If you're buying an existing operation rather than starting fresh, the seller's trailing-twelve-month (T12) revenue statement needs to match this same Vilano-specific picture - not a blended number pulled from a broader St. Johns County report, and not a T12 that quietly straddles two different tax years without saying so. Ask specifically: which 12 months does this T12 cover, and does the county TDT remittance history for those same 12 months, filed with the collector at (904) 209-2250, match what's on the seller's statement? A T12 that can't be reconciled against actual filed tax remittances for the same address and the same period is a red flag worth pausing on before you rely on it for financing.

This is also where the 'two places, two desks' distinction earns its keep. If a seller's packet cites a tax filing or registration record tied to the City of St. Augustine desk rather than the county desk, that's a mismatch worth asking about directly - it could mean the seller has been operating under the wrong jurisdiction's paperwork, or it could mean the packet has simply pulled in the wrong reference by mistake. Either way, it's worth resolving before closing rather than after.

Reading the Supply Numbers Like an Underwriter, Not Like a Headline

A 20.1 percent supply increase sounds alarming in isolation, but the way to actually use that number is to ask what it implies about your own future competitive set rather than treating it as a pass/fail signal. If Vilano's 161-listing extract grew from roughly 134 listings a year prior to reach 161 today, that's the kind of absolute change worth picturing concretely: somewhere in the range of 25 to 30 new listings entering a market that's still fundamentally small. In a market that size, even a handful of new professionally managed listings - on top of what Wren and Elite already hold - can meaningfully shift the competitive bar for photography, pricing, and guest communication within a single year.

Compare that to St. Augustine Beach's 320.0 percent supply growth, which in a market with more total listings implies an entirely different scale of new competition flooding in over the same period - consistent with why that market's revenue is falling four times faster than Vilano's. The lesson for a Vilano buyer isn't that 20.1 percent growth is automatically safe; it's that the number needs to be read against the base it's growing from and against what a comparably sized market elsewhere is experiencing, not treated as a standalone verdict.

Building the Underwrite: What Actually Belongs in the Packet

A buyer packet for a Vilano Beach short-term rental should carry the Vilano-specific figures and nothing borrowed from next door: typical annual revenue around $63,182, ADR around $492, occupancy around 40.0 percent, and RevPAR around $199, all drawn from the 161-listing extract that actually sits on this parcel. It should note the year-over-year trend of roughly minus 10.5 percent against supply growth of about 20.1 percent, so a lender sees the real absorption picture rather than an inflated growth story or a borrowed decline from a different city.

It should carry the county's operating facts - 5 percent TDT through the county collector, occupancy capped at two per bedroom up to 10 total with kids 12 and under excluded from that count - and it should leave out any fee figure that isn't confirmed against the current county code. And it should keep St. Augustine Beach's $41,633 and the City of St. Augustine's $36,982 blend clearly labeled as reference points from other jurisdictions, not as numbers a Vilano deal gets measured against.

Related Reading

More Vilano Beach, Florida reading already live on Crest & Cove.

• Vilano Beach STR Report 2026: $63,182, Not City Copy

• Market a Vilano Beach Stay: The Pier, Not Castillo Copy

• Vilano STR Rules: County Registration Versus City Desk

• Vilano Shoulder: March Peak, October Hole, June Extra

• Vilano Beach Remote Stays: 80 listings Already Set 30-Plus

• DIY vs Hire in Vilano: 23.0 percent PM, Wren Nine

• Who Books a Vilano Rental: March Peak, Jacksonville Origin

• Vilano Tourism Data: The Bridge Is Demand, Not T12

• Complete Visitor's Guide to Vilano Beach and the Pier

• What It Costs to Start a Legal Vilano Beach STR Stay

• Financing a Vilano Beach Rental Without a City blend

• Vilano vs St Johns STR Desks: County Hall, Not City

• Vilano vs St Augustine Beach: two towns,

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do St. Augustine Beach and City of St. Augustine numbers keep showing up in Vilano Beach research?

Vilano Beach is a small, unincorporated pocket of St. Johns County that doesn't always get its own line in broader market data tools, so some research defaults to the nearest incorporated city or the countywide blend instead. That's a data-convenience shortcut, not a statement that those markets behave the same way. A Vilano buyer should always ask which parcel and which tax jurisdiction a given figure actually describes before using it.

Is a 40 percent occupancy rate with a near-$500 ADR a good sign or a warning sign?

It depends on what you're comparing it to, but on its own it describes a rate-driven market rather than a volume-driven one - fewer nights booked, at a higher price per night. That can work well for an owner who wants a lighter operating calendar, but it means your revenue projection shouldn't assume you'll fill more nights than the comparable set is currently filling; it should assume you can hold a comparable rate.

Does the 20.1 percent supply growth in Vilano mean the market is getting oversaturated?

It means new listings are entering faster than the market's year-over-year revenue is growing, which is worth watching, but it's a much smaller supply surge than the 320.0 percent growth showing up in St. Augustine Beach's own extract. The two markets are under different amounts of new-listing pressure, and treating them as interchangeable would understate how much heavier that pressure is one town over.

Why does it matter which management company holds which listings?

Named operators like Wren and Elite holding a combined share of the 161-listing extract tells you part of your comparable set is professionally managed rather than owner-run. That affects pricing discipline, photo quality, and response times across the competitive set you'll be measured against, which is useful context for setting your own rate strategy rather than assuming every competing listing is a casual side project.

What should a buyer actually ask the county before closing?

Confirm the property's exact jurisdiction (unincorporated St. Johns County versus city limits), confirm the current TDT rate and registration requirements directly with the county code and collector desks, and get any fee figure in writing rather than relying on a secondhand number. The two county desks that apply to a Vilano parcel are (904) 209-0734 for code questions and (904) 209-2250 for the tax collector.

Why shouldn't a buyer call the City of St. Augustine registration desk about a Vilano property?

Because Vilano Beach sits outside St. Augustine's city limits, in unincorporated St. Johns County. The city's registration desk at (904) 201-8839 handles properties inside the city, and applying city rules or city registration to a county parcel gets you an answer for the wrong jurisdiction - and potentially the wrong compliance requirement entirely.

Is the occupancy cap really two guests per bedroom, or is that a rough guideline?

The county's published figure is two per bedroom with a hard ceiling of 10 total guests, and children 12 and under are excluded from that count. That's a real operating limit worth confirming directly with the county before you finalize how many bedrooms you're marketing or how you describe maximum occupancy in your own listing.

Should a buyer assume the registration fee referenced in older research is still accurate?

No. That fee figure wasn't confirmed against current county code in the research behind this article, so it isn't repeated here as fact, and it shouldn't be treated as settled in a buyer packet either. Call the county code desk directly and get the current fee in writing before you build it into your closing costs.

Do 30-night-minimum listings on this cell represent real demand for month-long stays?

Not necessarily. A long minimum is often a host's calendar-management choice rather than proof that guests are booking full months. Roughly half to nearly two-thirds of comparable inventory (depending on the subset) runs that kind of long-minimum setting, and a buyer shouldn't read that as a filled slow season - the underlying typical-year revenue figure already reflects the market's actual booking pattern.

What's the single biggest underwriting mistake a Vilano buyer packet can make?

Blending in a number from St. Augustine Beach or the citywide St. Augustine average to make the deal pencil better. Both of those markets have their own trend lines, their own supply pressure, and their own tax desks. The parcel being financed is a Vilano Beach property, and the only revenue figure that should carry the underwrite is the one built from Vilano's own 161-listing extract.

Why does multiplying ADR by occupancy give a bigger number than the typical-year figure?

ADR and occupancy are generally reported as averages, which can be pulled upward by a small number of high-performing listings, while the typical-year figure tends to reflect a more representative, median-style outcome across the full 161-listing set. When the two don't match, lean on the more conservative typical-year number for your own projection rather than the higher average-based calculation.

What should I ask a seller to reconcile if I'm buying an existing Vilano short-term rental operation?

Ask the seller to show that their trailing-twelve-month revenue statement lines up with actual county TDT remittance records for that same address and the same 12 months, filed with the collector's desk at (904) 209-2250. If the seller's paperwork references a City of St. Augustine registration or tax filing instead of a St. Johns County one, that mismatch needs to be resolved before you rely on the T12 for financing.

Work with Crest & Cove Creative

A Vilano Beach listing priced off St. Augustine Beach's $41,633 average, or the city's blended $36,982 figure, is describing a different market than the 161-listing Vilano extract actually shows.

We help Vilano Beach hosts write listing copy anchored to this town's own $63,182 figure and county occupancy rules, not a neighboring city's number. Send us the listing and we'll help you keep the copy specific to this parcel.

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