Financing a Holland Rental: DSCR on This Year Only

A debt-service coverage ratio, DSCR, loan on a Holland, Michigan short-term rental lives or dies on which year's revenue figure actually goes into the underwriting file. This page will not guess a coverage ratio or a purchase price for any specific deal; it will name the only published Holland year the packet can actually carry, and it will draw a hard line around the neighboring towns' numbers that keep getting blended into Holland DSCR files by mistake.

The published figure for a Holland parcel, drawn from AirROI's trailing-twelve-month vintage covering August 2025 through July 2026, is $32,326 in revenue across a 104-listing sample, with an average daily rate of $324, occupancy at 40.9 percent, and revenue per available night, RevPAR, of $131. That is the number that belongs on a Holland DSCR worksheet. Nothing else does.

Saugatuck's own figure for the same kind of comparison is $48,089 across a 294-listing sample, and Grand Haven's is $28,473 on its own separate cluster. Both are real, documented figures for their own towns, and both are wrong the moment either one gets carried onto a Holland parcel's loan file instead of Holland's own $32,326.

This is not legal or financial advice, and it does not substitute for a lender's own underwriting process. What follows is a plain accounting of which Holland-specific facts belong on a DSCR file, which neighboring-town numbers do not, and which local desks a borrower should actually be calling before submitting a coverage ratio to a loan officer. A borrower or broker who follows this discipline consistently across every West Michigan coastal file will spend less time defending numbers to a skeptical underwriter later. This is not legal advice.

DSCR on Holland's $32,326, and Nowhere Else

A DSCR loan on a Holland parcel starts with $32,326 in trailing-twelve-month revenue, sourced from a 104-listing sample covering August 2025 through July 2026, with a $324 average daily rate, 40.9 percent occupancy, and $131 RevPAR. Every one of these figures belongs specifically to Holland, and a borrower or loan officer should be able to point to this exact sample and vintage when the number appears on a coverage-ratio worksheet.

The temptation to swap in a stronger neighboring figure is real, since Saugatuck's $48,089 looks considerably better on paper than Holland's $32,326, but a lender underwriting a Holland parcel against Saugatuck's revenue is underwriting a loan against a market the property does not actually sit in. If the deal cannot service debt on Holland's own $32,326, it does not become serviceable by quietly attaching a different town's number to the same address.

The reverse mistake, using Grand Haven's lower $28,473 figure to argue a Holland deal is riskier than it actually is, is equally wrong for the same reason. Whether the neighboring number is higher or lower than Holland's own figure, it belongs to a different parcel, a different sample, and a different market, and neither direction of substitution produces an accurate coverage ratio for an actual Holland property.

Do Not Put the Other Town's Revenue on This Loan

Someone, at some point in a DSCR file's life, will take Holland's $32,326 and Saugatuck's $48,089, split the difference, and try to carry a blended West Michigan number onto the loan instead of either town's actual documented figure. This kind of averaging feels reasonable on a spreadsheet, but it produces a number that does not describe any real market; it describes an average of two different towns that happens to land somewhere in between, useful for nothing.

The same caution applies to Grand Rapids. A Grand Rapids median revenue or ADR figure has no place on a Holland parcel's DSCR worksheet, and a loan officer citing a Grand Rapids number to describe a Holland property is describing a different city's market roughly thirty miles away, not the parcel actually being financed. Grand Rapids may be relevant as the nearest larger drive-market origin for guests, but it is not a substitute revenue source.

A ratio built on a blended or borrowed number is not a more conservative or more generous version of the real ratio; it is simply not a ratio on this property at all. A loan officer asking a borrower to produce a corridor-wide or regional year for the file is asking for a number the actual parcel's own market data does not have, and the honest response is to send the Holland-specific extract instead.

Two Halls Sit With the Parcel: City or Township

Before any DSCR conversation gets far, a borrower needs to confirm which specific jurisdiction actually governs the parcel, because Holland's short-term rental question runs through two different offices depending on exactly where the property sits. Holland City Desk sits at 270 S River Avenue and handles parcels inside city limits. A separate township clerk's office, at 353 N 120th Avenue, extension 6, handles parcels in the surrounding township jurisdiction instead, and the two offices answer different questions about the same general area.

Park Township, Laketown Township, and the City of Saugatuck are additional desks that may govern a nearby parcel depending on its exact location, which means a borrower cannot simply assume city rules apply just because the address reads as Holland-adjacent. Confirming the tax map and parcel identification first, before assuming which office's rules apply, avoids underwriting a use that the actual governing jurisdiction may not currently permit.

This matters directly for a DSCR loan because a ratio on an illegal or currently non-permitted use is not a functioning ratio at all; the revenue figure means nothing if the underlying short-term rental use cannot legally exist on that specific parcel. Confirming the use can exist, with the correct city or township office, comes before underwriting the use, not after.

The 25-Cap and What It Means for a New Purchase

Holland's short-term rental permitting includes a capped number of allowed permits, and that cap is currently reported as full. This is a meaningfully different situation for a prospective buyer than a market with open, uncapped permitting, because a parcel without an existing, transferable permit may not be able to obtain new short-term rental authorization simply by closing on the purchase, regardless of how strong the DSCR math looks on paper.

A borrower evaluating a Holland purchase specifically for short-term rental use should confirm, before finalizing financing, whether the specific parcel already carries an existing permit that would transfer with the sale, or whether new permitting is even currently available given the cap. A DSCR ratio calculated against short-term rental revenue is irrelevant if the property cannot legally operate as a short-term rental after the purchase closes.

Ottawa County's clerk office handles records, not the city's actual permitting certificate, and Visit Holland's visitor information is a landscape of tourism data, not a license window either. A borrower should not treat either of these as the authority on whether a specific parcel can currently obtain or transfer a short-term rental permit; that answer comes from the city or township office that actually governs the parcel.

Reading the Season Shape Behind the Revenue Number

The $32,326 annual figure sits on top of a specific seasonal shape worth understanding before treating it as a flat, evenly distributed number. August, June, July, and May show up as strong months in the underlying data, alongside a documented January hole where demand and revenue both run noticeably softer than the rest of the year.

This matters for a DSCR conversation because a lender or a borrower stress-testing the loan against a slow month should reference January specifically, the town's own documented soft point, rather than assuming a flat average applies evenly across all twelve months. A property that clears its debt service comfortably averaged across the year might still run tight during the specific weeks January's data shows as the softest.

Visitor traffic data from sources like Visit Holland should be treated as demand color, useful context about general interest in the area, rather than as booked occupancy for a specific listing's actual year. The $32,326 figure and its underlying 40.9 percent occupancy are the actual booked numbers; visitor counts are a different, softer kind of data that should not be substituted for them on a DSCR worksheet.

What a Lender-Ready Packet Actually Looks Like

A defensible Holland DSCR packet attaches the property's PITI, principal, interest, taxes, and insurance, to the $32,326 figure specifically, with the 104-listing sample size, the $324 ADR, the 40.9 percent occupancy, and the August 2025 through July 2026 vintage all clearly labeled. It leaves Saugatuck's $48,089 and Grand Haven's cluster 116 figure out entirely, or, if referenced at all, clearly labeled as separate, non-comparable neighboring-market data rather than blended into the Holland number.

This kind of packet is a lender packet, not a marketing postcard, and it should read like one: specific sourced figures, a specific vintage window, and a specific parcel identification confirming which office, city or township, actually governs the property. A packet that reads more like promotional copy than an underwriting document is more likely to draw scrutiny from a careful loan officer than one that simply states the sourced numbers plainly.

None of these figures are a promise that the next owner's actual booked year will match this sample exactly. These are documented sample facts from a specific trailing-twelve-month window, not a guarantee that the next deed prints the same numbers going forward, and a borrower should treat them as the most defensible starting point available, not as a locked-in outcome.

Confirming Before You Submit the File

Before submitting a DSCR file to a lender, a borrower should independently confirm the current status of the parcel's tax map identification, whether it sits under city or township jurisdiction, and whether an existing short-term rental permit exists or would transfer with the sale given the reported 25-cap being full. Each of these is a factual question with a specific, checkable answer from the correct office, not something to assume from a general sense of the area.

It is also worth confirming the current AirROI or comparable data vintage directly rather than relying on a figure that may have already rolled forward to a newer trailing-twelve-month window by the time financing closes. The August 2025 through July 2026 figure cited here will eventually be superseded by a more current window, and a borrower should use whichever vintage is actually current at the time of underwriting.

The overall discipline this page is built around is simple to state and easy to skip under pressure: keep Holland's own $32,326, Saugatuck's $48,089, and Grand Haven's cluster figure on three separate labeled lines, confirm the governing jurisdiction before underwriting the use, and do not let a stronger or weaker neighboring number quietly substitute for the parcel's own actual documented year.

The Bottom Line for a Borrower or Broker

A Holland DSCR file that survives underwriting scrutiny is built on exactly one town's own numbers, confirmed against exactly one governing office's current permitting status, and stress-tested against exactly one documented soft month rather than an assumed flat average. Every substitution away from that discipline, a neighboring town's stronger revenue figure, an assumed jurisdiction that turns out to be wrong, a flat year-round revenue assumption that ignores January's documented softness, makes the file less accurate, not more persuasive.

A broker or loan officer working several West Michigan coastal markets at once should keep a simple habit: label every figure with its own town and vintage before it goes into any file, and treat any request to blend markets, whether from a borrower hoping for a stronger number or an underwriter looking for a shortcut, as a request the actual data cannot honestly satisfy.

The discipline costs nothing beyond the small effort of double-checking a number and a jurisdiction before they go into a lender packet, and it is considerably cheaper than unwinding a loan file after a lender discovers a blended or misattributed figure partway through underwriting. Confirming the parcel's jurisdiction, permit status, and correct trailing-twelve-month figure up front is a routine part of preparing any coastal Michigan short-term rental file, not an optional extra step.

Related Reading

More Holland, Michigan reading already live on Crest & Cove.

• Holland STR Report 2026: $32,326 on 104 listings, Not a blend

• Market a Holland Stay: De Zwaan and Big Red, Not a blend

• Holland STR Rules: City Certificate Versus Township Desk

• Holland Shoulder Season: August Peak Against January Hole

• Holland Remote Stays: Fifty-Six listings Already Set 30-Plus

• DIY vs Hire in Holland: Rob on Nine Listings This Year

• Who Books a Holland Rental: Festival Days Versus Beach

• Buying a Holland Rental: $32,326, Not a Saugatuck blend

• Holland Tourism Data: Festival Is Demand, Not Occupancy

• Complete Visitor's Guide to Holland Michigan Lakeshore

• What It Costs to Start a Legal Holland Michigan STR Stay

• Holland Tulip Time Versus the Summer Beach Extract Year

• Holland City Versus Township: Identity Only, Not Grand Haven

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the correct revenue figure for a Holland DSCR loan?

$32,326 in trailing-twelve-month revenue across a 104-listing sample, with a $324 average daily rate, 40.9 percent occupancy, and $131 RevPAR, covering August 2025 through July 2026. This is the only figure that should appear on a Holland-specific DSCR worksheet -- not a rounded neighbor number, and not a blended figure that mixes in a different town's sample.

Can Saugatuck's or Grand Haven's revenue figures be used for a Holland property?

No. Saugatuck's $48,089 figure and Grand Haven's cluster figure belong to their own separate markets and samples. Neither should be substituted, blended, or averaged into a Holland parcel's own $32,326 figure, even though the towns sit close together on a map. A lender packet that mixes them describes a market that doesn't actually exist.

Which office governs short-term rental permitting for a Holland-area parcel?

It depends on the exact parcel location. Holland City Desk at 270 S River Avenue governs parcels inside city limits, while a separate township clerk's office handles surrounding township parcels. Park Township, Laketown Township, and the City of Saugatuck may also govern nearby parcels, so confirm the correct desk before assuming a use is allowed.

What does it mean that Holland's short-term rental permit cap is full?

It means new permits may not currently be available. A prospective buyer should confirm whether the specific parcel carries an existing, transferable permit before assuming a DSCR loan built on projected short-term rental revenue is actually viable after closing. A permit cap that's full is a diligence item, not a detail to skip past.

Does Visit Holland's visitor data count as booked occupancy for underwriting?

No. Visitor traffic data is useful demand color, but it isn't the same as booked occupancy. The 40.9 percent occupancy figure and $32,326 revenue figure are the actual booked numbers that belong on a DSCR file, and a lender comparing the two should be pointed to the extract, not the tourism board's visitor counts.

What is Holland's weakest month for short-term rental demand?

January is documented as the soft point in the seasonal data, with August, June, July, and May showing up as the strongest months. A lender stress-testing the loan should reference January specifically rather than assuming a flat average across all twelve months, since the gap between peak and low season is real and measurable.

Who handles official parcel records if it's not the city permitting office?

Ottawa County's clerk office handles records, not the city's actual short-term rental certificate. A borrower should confirm permitting status with the correct city or township office directly rather than assuming the county record answers that specific question -- the county desk and the city desk serve different functions in the file.

Does this page guarantee a specific coverage ratio for a Holland deal?

No. This page doesn't guess a coverage ratio or a purchase price for any individual deal. It names the only published Holland year available and leaves the actual underwriting to the lender's own process, applied to the parcel's specific facts, permit status, and the buyer's own financial picture -- figures a market extract alone can't supply.

Work with Crest & Cove Creative

A Holland DSCR file starts at $32,326 across 104 listings, not Saugatuck's $48,089 or Grand Haven's cluster figure. Confirm which office, city or township, actually governs the parcel before underwriting the use.

We help independent Holland-area owners keep their own town's revenue figures, permitting jurisdiction, and seasonal shape straight on a DSCR file. Send us the parcel details and we will help you confirm which numbers actually belong on your packet.

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