Financing a Stroudsburg, PA Rental: DSCR Notes That Hold Up

Sep 2

11 min read

Delaware Water Gap ridgeline and Delaware River valley near Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. Wikimedia: Delaware Water Gap aerial view.jpg

A debt service coverage ratio, or DSCR, note for a Stroudsburg short-term rental should start on $35,590, this town's typical annual revenue on Air ROI's extract covering August 2025 through July 2026, across 34 active rentals. It should not start on Scranton's $14,656, drawn from 85 active rentals on the same window. Do not mint Scranton's number as this town's note. The two figures describe different cities, different guest pools, and a listing count more than double Stroudsburg's, and a lender packet that blends them is building on the wrong foundation before the underwriting math even begins.

This is not legal advice. What follows organizes the revenue figures, the registration and zoning requirements, and the tax rates that this file has confirmed for Stroudsburg, and flags exactly where a borrower still needs to confirm current status directly with the borough or the county before treating a number as settled for a closing packet.

A DSCR note lives or dies on whether every figure inside it can be traced back to a real, named source. That standard applies equally to the revenue numbers, the zoning rules, the license requirements, and the tax rates covered here. None of the sections that follow should be read as a substitute for a lender's own underwriting checklist; they are a way to organize what this sample and the borough's known 2025 fee schedule already confirm, so the borrower's own homework starts from a solid base rather than from a guess.

The Revenue Line a DSCR Note Should Carry

DSCR starts on $35,590, not on Scranton's $14,656. in this sample, that $35,590 typical annual revenue figure for Stroudsburg comes with an average daily rate of about $383, occupancy of about 34.0 percent, and a Rev PAR of about $125, all across 34 active listings for the August 2025 through July 2026 window. A lender packet should carry all four numbers together, sourced to the same extract and the same window, rather than presenting the ADR alone or a revenue figure without its supporting occupancy context.

Year over year, revenue in this sample is up about 72.1 percent while supply is up about 112.5 percent over the same period. A DSCR note built on a single year's $35,590 figure should note this growth context, since a market where supply is expanding faster than revenue carries different risk than one where revenue growth is outpacing new listings. A lender is likely to ask about this gap directly, and a borrower who has already accounted for it in the packet is in a stronger position than one who has not.

Keeping Scranton Off the Note

A lender packet should carry this town's year, the remaining registration status, the remaining tax rates, and Scranton's $14,656 figure on a separate line, not blended into the Stroudsburg total. Stroudsburg and Scranton do not share a permit desk, a guest pool, or a listing count, and a DSCR note that lets the two towns bleed into one revenue figure is a note that will not survive a careful second read by an underwriter checking the address against the source data.

Keeping tourism copy out of the column that has to pay the note is part of the same discipline. A note is not the place for a general Poconos regional pitch; it is the place for this specific 34-listing town's $35,590 typical revenue, sourced to the same August 2025 through July 2026 extract used throughout this packet, with Scranton's numbers held entirely separate.

Licensing and Zoning Requirements to Confirm

A short-term home rental license is required under Ordinance 1087 for stays of 30 consecutive days or less, and a short-term home rental zoning permit is required in addition to that license. Short-term rentals are prohibited in the R-1, R-2, and R-3 zoning districts. A borrower should confirm the current zoning designation for the specific parcel being financed before assuming a Stroudsburg property qualifies for short-term rental use at all, since a property sitting in a prohibited zoning district cannot legally operate as an STR regardless of what the revenue numbers in this sample suggest.

Zoning confirmation for a specific parcel can be made at 570-421-5444, though the current 2026 status should be confirmed directly rather than assumed to match a prior year's file. This is one of the first checks a borrower should run before spending time on DSCR math at all, since a zoning mismatch makes the rest of the underwriting exercise moot.

Registration Fees and What This File Does Not Confirm

The 2025 borough registration in this sample is listed at $300 per unit initial and $200 per unit renewal, tracked at stroudsburgboro.com. This file does not carry a confirmed 2026 figure, and a borrower should not assume the 2025 rate carries forward unchanged. Confirming remaining 2026 registration status, including whether the fee has changed, is a required step before closing a DSCR note against this property, not an optional detail to leave for after funding.

Confirm remaining Hotel Tax Article status, remaining zoning-permit files, and remaining Ordinance 1087 license files at stroudsburgboro.com before finalizing a lender packet. A DSCR note that cites the 2025 registration figures without a dated confirmation that 2026 status has been checked is presenting stale information as if it were current, which is a risk a careful lender is likely to flag during underwriting.

Tax Rates That Belong in the Revenue Model

The Monroe County hotel room rental excise tax is 3 percent on rentals under 30 days, and the Pennsylvania hotel occupancy tax is 6 percent, for a combined 9 percent tax exposure on qualifying short-term stays. A DSCR revenue model should account for these rates when converting gross booking revenue into net operating income, since a note built on gross revenue without accounting for this roughly 9 percent combined tax load will overstate the property's actual debt service coverage.

Confirm remaining lodging tax details on both the borough and Monroe County pages before finalizing a DSCR model, since local tax rates and remittance requirements can change and this file's 3 percent and 6 percent figures should be treated as the confirmed rates at the time this sample was built, not assumed to be permanently fixed. A note that shows the borrower has checked current rates against the source is a stronger note than one that simply repeats last year's figures.

The combined roughly 9 percent tax exposure also affects how a borrower should think about pricing strategy on the property once it is operating, since the average night in this sample, about $383, is a pre-tax figure guests see, while the after-tax revenue that flows to the property owner is what actually services the debt. A DSCR model that confuses gross booking price with net operating revenue is likely to overstate coverage, which is exactly the kind of error a careful underwriter is trained to catch.

How This Compares to Scranton's Registration and Tax Picture

This file does not carry Scranton's specific registration fees or tax rates, only its revenue and listing count figures. That is itself a useful reminder: a borrower should not assume Scranton's permitting and tax structure mirrors Stroudsburg's Ordinance 1087 framework, the R-1, R-2, and R-3 zoning restrictions, or the $300 initial and $200 renewal registration fees documented here. Each town runs its own registration desk, and a DSCR note for a Scranton property would need its own separately confirmed set of figures, not a copy of Stroudsburg's.

The broader point for a borrower working across multiple Pocono-region towns is that no single permitting or tax framework can be assumed to apply market-wide. Stroudsburg's Ordinance 1087 requirements, zoning restrictions, and tax rates are specific to this borough and this county, and a DSCR note for any other town, Scranton included, needs its own independently confirmed registration, zoning, and tax section built the same way this one was.

Seasonality and the Debt Service Calendar

this sample identifies June, July, and December as peak months and March as the revenue hole for the August 2025 through July 2026 window. A DSCR note built on the $35,590 annual figure should still account for this seasonal shape when a lender or a borrower is stress-testing monthly debt service coverage, since a property that comfortably covers its note in June may run tighter in March if the mortgage payment is fixed and monthly revenue is not evenly distributed across the calendar.

A conservative underwriting approach treats the March revenue hole as the stress-test month rather than the average month, checking whether the property's lowest-revenue month alone, not the $35,590 annual figure divided by twelve, still produces adequate coverage against the note. This is a more demanding standard than a simple annual DSCR calculation, but it is closer to how the property will actually need to perform in its weakest month, and it is a more defensible basis for a note than assuming revenue arrives evenly all year.

Why the Growth Numbers Cut Both Ways

The 72.1 percent year-over-year revenue growth in this sample is, on its face, a strong signal for a market a borrower is entering. But the 112.5 percent supply growth over the same period means new competing listings are arriving faster than revenue is climbing, which can pressure per-listing performance for new entrants even in a market with a strong overall growth story. A DSCR note that treats the 72.1 percent figure as a simple tailwind, without weighing the 112.5 percent supply growth against it, is presenting only half of what this sample actually shows.

A borrower and a lender working through this note together should ask a direct question: does the $35,590 typical revenue figure already reflect a market that has absorbed most of this new supply, or is it measured at a point where further supply growth could still compress per-listing revenue going forward. this sample does not answer that question definitively, and a DSCR note should not pretend that it does. What it can do is flag the growth-versus-supply tension plainly, which is itself useful information for underwriting a note responsibly.

What a Complete DSCR Packet Looks Like

A lender packet for a Stroudsburg DSCR note should carry: the $35,590 typical annual revenue on 34 listings, the $383 ADR, the 34.0 percent occupancy, the $125 Rev PAR, confirmed current zoning status for the specific parcel, a dated confirmation of remaining 2026 registration status and fee, the 3 percent Monroe County excise tax and 6 percent Pennsylvania occupancy tax rates, and a clear note that Scranton's $14,656 figure on 85 listings is a separate town's number kept off this page. Every item on that list is independently checkable against either this sample or a named borough and county source.

A DSCR note built from this information should still go through a lender's own underwriting review and, where zoning or licensing questions arise, a direct conversation with the borough's zoning desk. What this packet structure does is remove the most common source of error in a Stroudsburg financing conversation: a revenue figure, a tax rate, or a registration status pulled from the wrong town, the wrong year, or an assumption rather than a confirmed, named source.

The discipline described throughout this piece is not complicated, even if it takes more effort than copying a template packet from a prior deal. Name the extract. Name the window. Name the borough desk and the county tax office. Confirm the parcel's zoning before assuming eligibility. Confirm the current registration fee rather than the 2025 figure. And keep Scranton's numbers, its $14,656 revenue and its 85 listings, entirely off the Stroudsburg page. A packet built that way is one a lender, an appraiser, and the borrower's own future self can all trust.

Frequently Asked Questions

What revenue figure should a Stroudsburg DSCR note be based on?

About $35,590 in typical annual revenue on 34 active listings, from Air ROI's extract covering August 2025 through July 2026. That figure pairs with a $383 ADR, 34.0 percent occupancy, and $125 Rev PAR. A lender packet should cite all four numbers together and should never substitute Scranton's separate $14,656 figure for this town's revenue line.

Is a short-term rental license required in Stroudsburg?

Yes. A short-term home rental license is required under Ordinance 1087 for stays of 30 consecutive days or less, and a separate zoning permit is required in addition to that license. A borrower should confirm current requirements and any recent changes directly with the borough before financing, closing on, or advertising a Stroudsburg short-term rental property.

Can any Stroudsburg property legally operate as a short-term rental?

No. Short-term rentals are prohibited in the R-1, R-2, and R-3 zoning districts in this sample. A borrower should confirm the current zoning designation for the specific parcel before underwriting a DSCR note, since a property in a prohibited district cannot legally operate as an STR regardless of how strong the surrounding market's revenue figures look.

What was the 2025 borough registration fee for a Stroudsburg rental?

$300 per unit for the initial registration and $200 per unit for renewal, according to this sample, tracked at stroudsburgboro.com. This file does not confirm a 2026 figure, so a borrower should verify current fees directly with the borough desk before assuming the 2025 rate still applies to a new registration or a renewal filing.

What taxes apply to a Stroudsburg short-term rental's revenue?

A Monroe County hotel room rental excise tax of 3 percent on rentals under 30 days, plus a Pennsylvania hotel occupancy tax of 6 percent, for a combined 9 percent on qualifying stays. A DSCR revenue model should subtract this combined tax exposure when calculating net operating income rather than working from gross booking revenue alone.

Who should a borrower call to confirm zoning for a specific parcel?

this sample lists 570-421-5444 as a contact for confirming remaining 2026 zoning status for a specific Stroudsburg parcel. Current status should be confirmed directly rather than assumed from a prior year, since a zoning designation can determine whether a property is eligible to operate as a short-term rental at all before any note closes or funds.

Why shouldn't Scranton's revenue be used in a Stroudsburg DSCR note?

Because Scranton is a separate market in this sample, with about $14,656 in typical revenue across 85 active listings, compared to Stroudsburg's $35,590 across 34 listings. The two towns do not share a permit desk, a guest pool, or a listing count, and blending their numbers produces a DSCR note that will not hold up to a lender's own address-level verification.

How did Stroudsburg's short-term rental revenue change year over year?

Revenue is up about 72.1 percent year over year in this sample, while supply grew about 112.5 percent over the same period. A DSCR note should note this gap, since supply growing faster than revenue is a different risk profile than the reverse, and a lender is likely to ask how that context factors into the underwriting.

What documentation should accompany the revenue figures in a lender packet?

A dated confirmation of remaining 2026 registration status and fee from the Borough of Stroudsburg, confirmed current zoning for the specific parcel, and confirmed current Monroe County and Pennsylvania tax rates, alongside the $35,590 typical revenue and its supporting ADR, occupancy, and Rev PAR figures, all sourced from the same named extract and confirmed window.

Does this article replace a lender's own underwriting review?

No. None of the figures here replace a lender's own underwriting process or a direct conversation with Stroudsburg's zoning and registration desks. This piece organizes confirmed extract data and known 2025 fee and tax figures so a borrower knows exactly what still needs independent confirmation before any specific Stroudsburg short-term rental property actually closes on a note.

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