Underwrite Vilano Beach Rental: The Right Comps for Your DSCR Note

Jacob Mishalanie
Aug 19
9 min read

Updated: 19 hours ago

St. Johns County Ocean Pier looking along the Atlantic

Vilano Beach short-term rentals pulled in $63,182 in average annual revenue across 161 active listings over the trailing twelve months. That figure, not the $41,633 posted a few miles south in St. Augustine Beach, and not the $36,982 posted in the historic City of St. Augustine, is the number that belongs on a Vilano Beach DSCR loan file.

The three markets sit close together on a map but price very differently on paper. Pulling in one city's occupancy, ADR, or year-over-year trend to round out a thin Vilano comparable set produces an underwriting file that doesn't match what the property will actually earn.

Price the Note on Vilano's Real Number: $63,182

The Vilano Beach extract, covering August 2025 through July 2026, puts average daily rate at $492, occupancy at 40.0 percent, and RevPAR at $199. Peak months are March, April, and June, with March the strongest of the three; October is the softest month of the year. The average stay runs 4.2 nights, with a 93-day average booking lead time.

Underneath those top-line numbers: 83.9 percent of Vilano's active listings are entire-home rentals, 68.3 percent are houses rather than condos or apartments, and 22.4 percent are three-bedroom units. Listings with capacity for eight or more guests make up 42.2 percent of the market, and 75.2 percent of hosts carry Superhost status. Guests booking Vilano stays most often originate from Jacksonville.

None of that changes if a lender substitutes St. Augustine Beach's $41,633 or the City of St. Augustine's $36,982 to smooth over a thin comparable set. The market report and this guide to buying a Vilano rental both cite $63,182 as the market average, write that number on the note, not a blended figure from a different city.

St. Augustine Beach's $41,633 Doesn't Belong on This Note

St. Augustine Beach, the barrier-island city just south of Vilano, posted $41,633 in average annual revenue over the same window, a different property mix, a different registration desk, and a different trend line. Its ADR runs $380, occupancy sits at 42.8 percent, and RevPAR is $174. Peak months mirror Vilano's (March, April, June), but St. Augustine Beach's softest month is January rather than October. Average stay runs longer at 5.2 nights, with a shorter 60-day booking lead.

The mix looks different too: every listing in the St. Augustine Beach sample is an entire-home rental, and 57.1 percent are professionally managed, well above Vilano's 23.0 percent. Of the 42 listings reporting a minimum-stay setting, 25, or 59.5 percent, are set to 30 nights or longer. Year over year, St. Augustine Beach revenue is down 41.0 percent against supply that grew 320.0 percent, a far sharper swing than Vilano's 10.5 percent decline against 20.1 percent supply growth.

Both markets draw a large share of guests from Jacksonville and share a March peak, but a shared origin city and a shared peak month aren't grounds for merging two notes. A side-by-side comparison of the two markets keeps the numbers separate. St. Augustine Beach registers through its own city hall, reachable at (904) 471-2122, a different desk than the county registration that applies to Vilano.

The City of St. Augustine's $36,982 Is a Third, Separate Market

A third nearby figure sometimes finds its way into Vilano underwriting by mistake: $36,982, the average annual revenue reported for listings inside the historic City of St. Augustine, reachable through its own registration line at (904) 201-8839. That's the compact, walkable downtown built around the fort and the historic district, a different guest experience and booking pattern than a barrier-island beach stay.

Vilano sits east of the Intracoastal Waterway, where St. Johns County registration applies rather than either city's. Registration runs through the County Code at (904) 209-0734, with the county's 5 percent tourist development tax collected separately at (904) 209-2250. Short-term rental occupancy in unincorporated St. Johns County is capped at two guests per bedroom, up to 10 total, excluding children 12 and under. The county desk's rules and how Vilano's registration compares to the rest of St. Johns County are worth reviewing before closing, none of that paperwork carries over from the city desks to the south, and neither city's revenue figures belong on a Vilano appraisal.

Vilano's Year-Over-Year Is Down 10.5 Percent. Don't Hide It

Vilano Beach revenue is down 10.5 percent year over year, a fact that belongs on the DSCR memo alongside the $63,182 headline number, not buried under downtown visitor counts and not masked by pointing to St. Augustine Beach's steeper 41.0 percent decline. Supply grew 20.1 percent over the same period: more active listings competing for a softer season, which is a meaningfully different story than a market in freefall.

The seasonality holds regardless of the trend line. Vilano's shoulder season still runs March, April, and June as the strong months, with October as the low point. A lender packet should carry the revenue figure and the year-over-year direction together, using last year's stronger number without the 10.5 percent adjustment, or importing St. Augustine Beach's 41.0 percent decline onto a Vilano file, both distort the debt-service picture.

Visitor Spending Isn't Debt Service

Downtown St. Augustine draws heavy foot traffic, fort attendance, pier counts, and crossings over the Usina Bridge that separates the historic district from Vilano, but none of that visitor volume is occupancy, ADR, or RevPAR for a Vilano rental. A lender memo that substitutes tourism attendance figures for trailing-twelve-month rental income is starting from the wrong dataset entirely.

Vilano's own numbers stand on their own: $63,182 in revenue, 40.0 percent occupancy, $199 RevPAR, a 4.2-night average stay, and a 93-day booking lead. Local tourism data and the visitor's guide to the area are useful for marketing a Vilano stay, they just don't belong in the underwriting file, and they shouldn't be used to explain away a soft month or inflate an occupancy figure.

A 49.7 Percent 30-Plus Booking Rate Doesn't Mean a Filled October

Eighty of Vilano's 161 listings, 49.7 percent, have a minimum-stay setting of 30 nights or longer, catering to remote workers and extended stays. That's a booking policy, not a measure of occupancy: Vilano's actual occupancy rate is still 40.0 percent, and October remains the softest month regardless of how many listings are configured for long stays. A closer look at Vilano's remote-worker stays covers the policy in more detail.

St. Augustine Beach shows a similar pattern at a higher rate, 25 of its 42 reporting listings, or 59.5 percent, are set to 30-plus nights, but it's still a separate market with its own January low season and 5.2-night average stay. A long minimum-stay setting doesn't fill a shoulder-season gap, and it isn't a substitute for the occupancy math on either property. The county's occupancy cap of two guests per bedroom, up to 10, excluding children 12 and under, applies to a 30-plus-night booking exactly as it applies to a weekend stay.

Florida DSCR Facts, Cited Correctly

For a Vilano Beach DSCR file: $63,182 in average annual revenue, $492 ADR, 40.0 percent occupancy, $199 RevPAR, a March peak and October low, a 4.2-night average stay, a 93-day lead time, a 10.5 percent year-over-year decline, and 20.1 percent supply growth. Guests originate primarily from Jacksonville. Registration runs through the County Code at (904) 209-0734, with the 5 percent tourist tax collected at (904) 209-2250, and an occupancy cap of two guests per bedroom, up to 10, excluding children 12 and under.

Leave St. Augustine Beach's $41,633 and the City of St. Augustine's $36,982 out of a Vilano note entirely, they're useful context for understanding the broader St. Johns County short-term rental landscape, but they aren't Vilano's numbers. The same discipline applies to a DIY-versus-hire property management decision: Vilano's independent hosts still operate most of its 161 listings, with professional management covering roughly 23.0 percent of the market.

What a Lender Packet Should Actually Carry

A complete Vilano Beach lender packet should carry $63,182 in average annual revenue, $492 ADR, 40.0 percent occupancy, and $199 RevPAR, alongside the March/April/June peak season and October low, the 10.5 percent year-over-year change, 20.1 percent supply growth, 4.2-night average stay, and 93-day lead time. It should also note the property mix: 83.9 percent entire-home, 68.3 percent houses, 42.2 percent with capacity for eight or more guests, and 75.2 percent Superhost status.

It should carry the registration facts as well: County Code at (904) 209-0734, the 5 percent tourist development tax collected at (904) 209-2250, and the occupancy cap of two guests per bedroom, 10 maximum, excluding children 12 and under. St. Augustine Beach's $41,633 and the City of St. Augustine's $36,982 should appear only as clearly labeled comparables, never blended into the Vilano revenue line, and visitor attraction attendance, fort hours, and pier counts have no place in the packet at all.

Frequently Asked Questions

What revenue figure should a Vilano Beach DSCR loan be underwritten on?

Underwrite on $63,182, the average annual revenue across Vilano Beach's 161 active listings, alongside an ADR of $492, occupancy of 40.0 percent, and RevPAR of $199, all from the same twelve-month extract. Don't substitute St. Augustine Beach's $41,633 or the City of St. Augustine's $36,982 — both are separate markets with their own property mix, registration desk, and seasonality. Every figure in the packet should trace back to Vilano's own 161-listing sample.

Why shouldn't St. Augustine Beach's revenue be used for a Vilano loan?

St. Augustine Beach is a different city with its own registration desk, a January low season instead of Vilano's October, a 5.2-night average stay instead of 4.2, and a steeper 41.0 percent year-over-year decline against 320.0 percent supply growth. A shared Jacksonville guest origin and a shared March peak don't make the two markets interchangeable on a lender packet — the underlying booking data diverges too much to blend them.

Does the City of St. Augustine's revenue apply to a Vilano property?

No. The City of St. Augustine is the historic downtown built around the old fort — a different guest experience, booking pattern, and registration desk than a barrier-island beach rental in Vilano. Its $36,982 average revenue figure is useful only as clearly labeled regional context, never as a substitute for Vilano's own $63,182 in a coverage-ratio calculation.

Does county or city registration apply to a Vilano Beach rental?

County registration applies. Vilano sits east of the Intracoastal Waterway in unincorporated St. Johns County, where short-term rentals register through the County Code office at (904) 209-0734 and pay the county's 5 percent tourist development tax through (904) 209-2250. Neither St. Augustine Beach's city hall nor the City of St. Augustine's registration desk has jurisdiction over a Vilano property, so a file citing either one is naming the wrong desk.

Is Vilano's year-over-year trend part of the underwriting file?

Yes. Vilano Beach revenue is down 10.5 percent year over year against 20.1 percent supply growth, and that trend belongs on the DSCR memo alongside the $63,182 headline figure. Don't mask it by citing St. Augustine Beach's steeper 41.0 percent decline instead, and don't underwrite off a prior year's stronger number without explaining the adjustment — the current trailing figure is what a lender will expect to see.

Is visitor spending at nearby attractions relevant to DSCR income?

No. Fort attendance, pier counts, and bridge crossings measure tourism volume in the broader St. Augustine area, not rental income specific to a Vilano property. Vilano's own occupancy, ADR, and RevPAR figures — $199 RevPAR at 40.0 percent occupancy — come from actual booking data, and that's what belongs in a lender packet, not downtown visitor attendance numbers pulled from a different part of the county.

Does a high rate of 30-plus-night minimum stays mean Vilano is filled in October?

No. Eighty of Vilano's 161 listings, or 49.7 percent, are configured with a 30-night-or-longer minimum stay, but that's a booking policy, not an occupancy rate — actual occupancy across the full sample is still 40.0 percent, and October remains the softest month. St. Augustine Beach shows a similar pattern at 59.5 percent of its listings, but the two markets' underlying occupancy figures still don't merge into one number.

What should a complete lender packet for a Vilano Beach STR include?

A defensible packet carries $63,182 average annual revenue, $492 ADR, 40.0 percent occupancy, $199 RevPAR, the March/April/June peak with October as the low month, the 10.5 percent year-over-year decline against 20.1 percent supply growth, the 4.2-night average stay, and 93-day lead time, plus the county registration contacts — (904) 209-0734 for registration and (904) 209-2250 for the 5 percent tourist tax. St. Augustine Beach and City of St. Augustine figures should appear only as clearly labeled comparables, never blended into Vilano's revenue line.

Work with Crest & Cove Creative

Vilano Beach listings still get marketed with St. Augustine Beach's lower $41,633 figure blended in, when this shoreline's own extract shows $63,182 across 161 listings. Copy that borrows the wrong neighbor's number undersells what this specific beach actually earns.

We help Vilano Beach hosts write listing copy anchored to this shoreline's own published year instead of a nearby beach's blended figure. Send us your listing, and we'll flag anywhere it still reads like St. Augustine Beach.

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