Financing a St. Francisville, LA Rental: DSCR and the Numbers

Sep 2

11 min read

St. Francisville, Louisiana civic landmark, photograph

Debt-service coverage ratio underwriting depends entirely on which revenue figure gets plugged into the calculation, and for a St. Francisville, Louisiana short-term rental, that figure has to come from St. Francisville's own extract. On the August 2025 through July 2026 Air ROI data, typical annual revenue across the town's 27 active listings is about $20,301. That is the number a lender packet for this town should carry, not a number borrowed from a larger, nearby market.

Baton Rouge is the obvious place a borrower or lender might reach for a comparable, since it is the nearest large short-term rental market. But Baton Rouge shows about $16,564 typical annual revenue across 806 active listings on the same window, a different city with its own ordinance, East Baton Rouge Ordinance 16370, and its own guest base. DSCR math for a St. Francisville property has to start on St. Francisville's $20,301 figure, with Baton Rouge's numbers kept on a separate line if they are referenced at all.

This distinction is not a technicality. A lender who accidentally underwrites a St. Francisville purchase against Baton Rouge's larger revenue base is approving a loan sized for cash flow this specific 27-listing property is unlikely to produce. A DSCR calculation is only as reliable as the revenue figure feeding it, and for this town, that figure has one correct source: the extract covering St. Francisville's own listings.

This page covers the revenue and rate figures a DSCR packet should use, the seasonal pattern that affects a debt-service projection, the town's registration requirements, and the Louisiana and West Feliciana Parish tax rules that apply to this property type. This is not legal advice. Where this page cannot confirm a specific figure from the town's own published materials, that gap is flagged rather than filled in with a plausible-sounding estimate.

Small-market DSCR underwriting is unforgiving of sloppy figures in a way larger-market underwriting sometimes is not. A 27-listing sample leaves little room to average away a bad comparable, and a lender reviewing a St. Francisville packet is likely to notice quickly if the revenue figure, the occupancy rate, or the ordinance citation does not trace cleanly back to this specific town. Getting these figures right the first time is a meaningfully faster path to approval than submitting a packet built on borrowed or blended numbers and having to correct it later.

The revenue figure a DSCR packet should actually use

St. Francisville's 27-listing sample shows about $20,301 typical annual revenue, an average daily rate of about $236, occupancy of about 30.0 percent, and a revenue-per-available-room figure of about $64. DSCR starts on that $20,301 figure, not on Baton Rouge's roughly $16,564. Mixing the two into a single blended projection produces a debt-service coverage number that does not accurately describe either city, and a lender reviewing the packet has no reliable way to reverse-engineer which portion of the projection came from which market.

Year over year, revenue in this sample is up about 10.3 percent, while supply is up about 50.0 percent over the same period. A DSCR projection that assumes flat or growing revenue without accounting for the faster growth in competing supply is likely overstating future cash flow. A more conservative approach weights the $20,301 typical figure against the possibility that revenue per listing comes under more pressure as supply keeps growing faster than demand.

A borrower should also be prepared to show a lender how the $20,301 figure was sourced: the August 2025 through July 2026 Air ROI extract for St. Francisville specifically, covering 27 active listings, not a blended state or regional average. Lenders reviewing small-market DSCR packets tend to ask exactly this question, and having the source and sample size ready alongside the figure itself speeds up underwriting rather than slowing it down.

Why the seasonal pattern belongs in the debt-service projection

November, October, and December are St. Francisville's strongest revenue months in this sample, with November the single busiest. February is the revenue hole, the month where booked revenue is lowest. A DSCR projection that averages revenue evenly across all twelve months misses the actual cash-flow shape a borrower will experience, front-loaded toward the fall and winter months, with a real dip to plan cash reserves around in February.

A lender comparing this shape to a market with a flatter, more evenly distributed seasonal pattern should be told directly that St. Francisville does not have one. The gap between the November peak and the February low is a real, extract-confirmed feature of this market, not an artifact of a single unusual year, and a DSCR projection that smooths it away is not more accurate for doing so, only less honest about the cash-flow timing a borrower should actually expect.

A 30-night minimum stay setting, used by about 11.1 percent of the 27-listing sample, is sometimes proposed as a way to smooth out that seasonal dip by locking in longer bookings. It is not a filled hole month; it is a platform filter. A lender or borrower treating a 30-night minimum as evidence of guaranteed occupancy during the February revenue hole is treating a setting as if it were a booking history, and the two are not the same thing.

A more useful way to build seasonal cushion into a DSCR projection is to size cash reserves against the actual gap between the November peak and the February low in this sample, rather than against a hoped-for 30-night booking that has not been confirmed by real booking history. That approach keeps the projection grounded in what the 27-listing sample has actually shown, rather than in a platform setting that may or may not translate into filled nights.

Registration and tax facts a lender packet should carry

The Town of St. Francisville requires both an occupational license and a short-term rental permit before a listing can advertise. Under Ordinance 2024-1 and Chapter 13, the occupational-license tax has a posted minimum of $25. This page does not guess a short-term rental permit dollar figure beyond that, because the town's own ordinance page used for this research did not publish one. Confirm current registration status at stfrancisville.net or by calling 225-635-3688 before finalizing any purchase or refinance timeline.

On the state level, Louisiana's state sales tax on room rentals outside Orleans and Jefferson Parishes is 5 percent, effective as of January 1, 2025, per revenue.louisiana.gov. St. Francisville sits in West Feliciana Parish, and a lender packet should also confirm the current parish occupancy tax through the West Feliciana Tourist Commission and parish collector, reachable at 225-635-4989. As noted above, a borrower should confirm the current applicable rates directly with those offices rather than relying solely on this page.

Neither of these registration or tax figures should be estimated upward or downward to make a DSCR projection look more favorable. A packet that understates the occupational-license minimum, the state sales tax rate, or the parish occupancy tax risks a lender catching the discrepancy later in underwriting, while a packet that simply flags the confirmed $25 minimum and the 5 percent state rate, with the parish rate marked as pending confirmation, is a more defensible starting point.

Keeping tourism copy out of the column that has to pay the note

A DSCR packet is a financial document, and it should be treated that way: the numbers that matter are revenue, rate, occupancy, RevPAR, and the registration and tax facts that affect net cash flow. Tourism language about the guest experience, downtown St. Francisville, or the Myrtles belongs in a marketing document, not in the column that has to pay the note. Keeping those two kinds of content separate makes it easier for a lender to evaluate the actual financial case.

The Myrtles and downtown St. Francisville are genuinely useful details in a marketing document aimed at guests, but they do not change a debt-service coverage calculation, and a DSCR reviewer does not need them to evaluate whether the property can cover its note. Keeping the two documents distinct, one financial, one guest-facing, also makes each easier to update independently as the extract or the ordinance changes.

This distinction matters because it is easy, when building out a full property packet, to let guest-facing tourism copy bleed into the financial section, softening what should be a precise, sourced set of figures. A reviewer should be able to trace every number in the DSCR section back to the extract or to a specific ordinance citation, without wading through descriptive language about the property's charm to find the underlying figures.

A useful discipline here is to build the DSCR packet as two clearly labeled sections: one carrying only sourced numbers, the $20,301 revenue figure, the $236 ADR, the 30.0 percent occupancy, the registration and tax facts, and a separate section, if one is needed at all, for descriptive property or location detail. A lender should never have to hunt through narrative copy to verify a figure that belongs in the financial section.

Building a conservative, defensible DSCR case for this market

A defensible DSCR case for a St. Francisville property starts with the $20,301 typical annual revenue figure, applies the actual seasonal pattern, November through December strong, February weak, rather than a flat monthly average, and carries the confirmed registration and tax obligations as real line items rather than footnotes. It keeps East Baton Rouge Ordinance 16370 and Baton Rouge's revenue figures entirely off the page, since they describe a different city under a different ordinance.

Where this page cannot answer a question with a confirmed figure, most notably the exact combined cost of the occupational license and short-term rental permit beyond the posted $25 minimum, and the current West Feliciana Parish occupancy tax rate, the honest move is to flag that as an open item to confirm with the town and parish directly, not to estimate a number and present it as settled. A borrower or lender should treat direct confirmation from those offices as the final word on both figures.

Building the packet this way also makes it easier to update later. When a new extract becomes available, or when the town publishes an updated fee schedule, a packet organized around clearly sourced, single-purpose paragraphs is far faster to revise than one where the financial figures are scattered through descriptive language about the property and the town.

A short comparable-market note for co-signers and partners

Buyers financing a St. Francisville purchase with a co-signer, business partner, or private lender who is less familiar with the local market often need a short, plain explanation of why the numbers cannot simply be pulled from Baton Rouge or another nearby city. The clearest version of that explanation is this: St. Francisville is a 27-listing market earning about $20,301 typical annual revenue, Baton Rouge is an 806-listing market earning about $16,564, and the two operate under different city ordinances with different registration requirements. They are not interchangeable inputs into the same underwriting model.

The same short explanation applies to Ordinance 2024-1 versus East Baton Rouge Ordinance 16370. A co-signer or partner reviewing a packet should understand that the $25 occupational-license minimum and the short-term rental permit requirement cited in this packet come specifically from St. Francisville's ordinance, not from Baton Rouge's, and that confirming current registration status means calling St. Francisville's own registration desk at 225-635-3688, not a Baton Rouge office.

A one-page comparable note like this, kept alongside the DSCR packet itself, tends to prevent a common back-and-forth in small-market lending: a reviewer or partner spotting a revenue figure that looks low compared to a bigger city they are more familiar with, and questioning it before realizing the comparison city was never the right one to begin with. Heading that question off with a short, sourced explanation saves time on both sides of the underwriting conversation.

Frequently Asked Questions

What revenue figure should a St. Francisville DSCR loan be underwritten against?

DSCR underwriting for a St. Francisville property should start on the town's own $20,301 typical annual revenue figure from the August 2025 through July 2026 Air ROI extract, based on 27 active listings. That figure pairs with an average daily rate of about $236 and occupancy of about 30.0 percent. Baton Rouge's roughly $16,564 figure describes a different, much larger city and should not be blended into a St. Francisville debt-service projection.

What permits does a St. Francisville rental need before a lender will fund it?

The Town of St. Francisville requires both an occupational license and a short-term rental permit before a listing can advertise. Under Ordinance 2024-1 and Chapter 13, the occupational-license tax has a posted minimum of $25. This page does not go beyond that published figure, so confirm current registration status directly at stfrancisville.net or by calling 225-635-3688 before finalizing a purchase or refinance timeline.

What is the Louisiana state sales tax on a St. Francisville short-term rental?

Louisiana's state sales tax on room rentals outside Orleans and Jefferson Parishes is 5 percent, effective as of January 1, 2025, per revenue.louisiana.gov. St. Francisville sits within that outside-Orleans-and-Jefferson category. A borrower should confirm the current applicable rate directly with the Louisiana Department of Revenue rather than relying solely on this page for a final figure.

How does West Feliciana Parish occupancy tax factor into financing this property?

A St. Francisville DSCR packet should confirm the current West Feliciana Parish occupancy tax through the West Feliciana Tourist Commission and parish collector, reachable at 225-635-4989. This page does not carry a specific confirmed rate for that tax, so it should be treated as an open item to resolve directly with those offices before finalizing a debt-service projection, rather than estimated and presented as settled.

Should February's revenue dip affect a DSCR projection for St. Francisville?

Yes. February is this market's revenue hole on the extract, the month where booked revenue is lowest across the year, while November, October, and December are the strongest months. A DSCR projection that averages revenue flatly across twelve months misses this shape. A more accurate projection weights the fall-through-winter strength and plans cash reserves around the real dip in February rather than assuming an even distribution.

Does a 30-night minimum stay improve a St. Francisville DSCR case?

Not on its own. About 11.1 percent of the 27-listing sample already sets a 30-night minimum, but that is a platform filter, not confirmed occupancy. A DSCR projection should not treat a 30-night minimum as evidence of a filled February revenue hole or guaranteed longer-stay bookings. Any claim that a 30-night setting improves cash flow should be supported by actual booking history, not the presence of the setting itself.

Is Baton Rouge's East Baton Rouge Ordinance 16370 relevant to a St. Francisville loan?

No. East Baton Rouge Ordinance 16370 governs short-term rentals in Baton Rouge, a separate city with its own 806-listing market and roughly $16,564 typical revenue figure. A St. Francisville DSCR packet should reference the Town of St. Francisville's own Ordinance 2024-1 and Chapter 13, and should not cite Baton Rouge's ordinance as if it applied to a St. Francisville property.

How fast is supply growing in the St. Francisville short-term rental market?

Active listing supply in this sample is up about 50.0 percent year over year, while revenue is up about 10.3 percent over the same period. A DSCR projection built on this market should account for that gap rather than assuming revenue growth will continue independent of the faster-growing competition for guest nights. A more conservative underwriting approach weights that supply growth as a real risk to future revenue per listing.

Work with Crest & Cove Creative

DSCR math for a St. Francisville rental has to start on this town's own $20,301 revenue figure. Blending in Baton Rouge's separate numbers produces a projection that fits neither market.

We help independent hosts market Cottonwood Falls stays without regional averages that erase the small-sample year. Keep neighbor comps labeled in the listing story and lead with the driveway this guest can actually book. Send the live listing draft and the facts you can actually cite.

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