How to Finance a Short-Term Rental Purchase in Wimberley, Texas

Jacob Mishalanie
Aug 16
16 min read

Updated: 16 hours ago

Jacob's Well Natural Area near Wimberley, Texas

Wimberley, Texas is a Hays County city on the Blanco River and Cypress Creek, in the Austin–San Antonio drive market — typical language, not a Saturday door-to-door from either metro. It is not Fredericksburg. It is not Dripping Springs. It is not Canyon Lake. If you are borrowing money to buy a house here and run it as a short-term rental, underwrite the house as a house. AirROI's Wimberley file, updated August 8, 2026, prints named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31 average annual revenue and a named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31 median month across 638 listings. Those are vendor figures. They are not a debt-service coverage ratio. They are not a note.

Every city STR needs a Conditional Use Permit. cityofwimberley.com/324, opened August 16, 2026, is the window: STR 1 versus STR 2, Council vote, 200-foot notice, 6 percent state hotel occupancy tax plus 7 percent city hotel occupancy tax after approval. A CUP is not a DSCR. Proposed language on that page — no new STR 2 CUPs in R-2 and R-3 — was headed to City Council on August 20, 2026. Do not invent the vote. Do not send a lender 1.3 million visitor days as income. Hays Free Press on February 11, 2026 quoted those days as a tourism-director paraphrase, mix of overnights and day trips.

This page is second-home versus investment language only. It will not invent a loan product, a rate, or an LTV. It will not invent a flood-insurance premium. The Blanco River flood of May 2015 killed 12 people; ask a Texas agent about the map. Hill Country Premier Lodging shows 167 listings on AirROI. That book is competition, not a comparable for your note. The ranch on the top table is not your note either. Themarket reportis the file. Thestartuppost is the non-refundable fee. This is what you may actually say to a lender.

Underwrite the house as a house

A Wimberley purchase is a Hays County house on a specific lot, with a specific flood question, a specific septic, and a specific zoning district. It may become an STR if Council grants a CUP, or if an existing CUP already runs with the property on the terms the live page describes. It may not. Underwrite the dwelling first: what does this house cost to own if the calendar is empty in February, which is AirROI's lowest revenue month, and soft again in January and September. If the only way the note works is a $335 ADR at 33.8 percent occupancy every year, you did not underwrite the house. You underwrote a dashboard.

AirROI, trailing August 2025–July 2026, updated August 8, 2026: 638 active listings, occupancy 33.8 percent, ADR $335, RevPAR $117, typical annual named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31, median month named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31. Supply is up 10.8 percent year over year. Revenue is up 4.4 percent. Entire-home share 89.2 percent. Houses 53.6 percent. Average stay about 2.8 nights. Those are field statistics. Your house is one address. An one-bedroom off the square (one-beds are 39 percent of the bedroom slice) and a five-bedroom on the river do not share a pro forma. Cite the average and the median. Do not pick a winner because one number sounds more investable.

Second-home language is allowed when the house is a house you would keep if the CUP died. Investment language is allowed when you can say, without a brochure, how the note is paid if STR nights do not. This page will not name a program, a rate, or an LTV for either path. Ask the lender what they actually offer for a Hays County dwelling, then for a dwelling they treat as investment, then what documents they want for a CUP town. Bring the city page. Bring the AirROI print with the date on it. Do not bring a Lions Club paraphrase as if it were rent roll.

Dripping Springs on AirROI's nearby table prints 405 listings, named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31 a month, $414 ADR, 30 percent occupancy. Caption it. Do not underwrite a Wimberley house on a neighbor file. Fredericksburg is leftover 070 — wine-trophy, heavier PM — and this draft will not invent its ADR. Canyon Lake is Comal. Theinvestmentpost is the buy-and-hold read with the CUP and the flood left on. This section is the first instruction: the collateral is the house.

named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31 is not named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31

AirROI's average annual revenue is named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31. The median month is named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31. Those numbers live on the same snapshot and they describe different middles. An average is pulled by the top of the file. Top-quartile months print named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31. Top 10 percent months print named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31 or more. The bottom quartile prints named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31. Median occupancy is about 32 percent. Median nightly rate is about $240. If you send a lender only named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31, you sent the prettier middle. If you send only named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31, you still have to say it is a month, not a year, and that March is not February.

Twelve times named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31 is a back-of-envelope some hosts will do. This draft will not treat that multiplication as a T12. Seasonality on the file is not flat. Peak revenue cluster is March, June, and May. Lowest revenue month is February. Soft band is January, February, and September. July's high ADR is not high occupancy. A lender who sees named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31 / 12 and a host who sees named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31 are not looking at the same month. Put both numbers on the page. Date the file August 8, 2026. Say n equals 638. Say supply is up 10.8 percent.

The top table on that file includes 5-to-8-bedroom river and ranch houses with trailing-twelve lines the median will never print. Those are not the named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31 house. If you underwrite the median as if it were the ranch, you are lying to the loan officer. If you underwrite the ranch as if it were the median, you are lying the other direction. Lead time is about 54 days. A March weekend is sold in January. Empty first Saturdays are how people discover they bought the average and live in the bottom quartile.

Professionally managed share is 40.8 percent. Superhost share is 52.7 percent. Cleaning fees average $150 with a $100 median. A $150 clean on a 2.8-night stay is a guest-total fact, not coverage. None of those lines is named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31, and none of them is named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31. Theshoulderpost is the month you are allowed to look cheap. Theremotepost is the 29.5 percent of the file on a 30-night minimum. Tell the lender which product you are buying. Then show both middles.

A CUP is not a DSCR

Debt-service coverage is a lending ratio. A Conditional Use Permit is a land-use vote. cityofwimberley.com/324 says every STR needs a CUP, STR 1 if the owner lives on the property, STR 2 if the owner does not, Council as the final yes, 200-foot notice, and a 4-of-5 supermajority if 20 percent of contiguous owners by land area oppose. Typical processing is 45 to 60 days. The application fee is non-refundable; the page does not print the dollar. None of that is net operating income divided by debt service.

An approved CUP, on the page this draft opened, amends zoning and remains on the property indefinitely without renewal, subject to original terms, and can be revoked for failure to meet conditions. Existing valid CUPs were described the same way in the “no change” block above the proposed ordinance. That is a scarce permission if Council later cuts new STR 2 product in R-2 and R-3. It is still not a DSCR. A lender who treats a CUP letter as if it were twelve months of collected rent is doing the host's wishful math for them. Do not help.

Proposed language — no new STR 2 CUPs in R-2 and R-3, lodging up to 30 units by-right in C1–C3, STR 1 changes in accessory dwellings — was on the August 20, 2026 Council agenda as of this draft, 6:00 p.m., 221 Stillwater. Do not invent the vote. Do not tell a lender the door is closed. Do not tell a lender the door is open. Open /324 after that night and bring the live page. News put a temporary moratorium through July 4, 2026. Do not invent that it is still in force.

If the house has no CUP, the startup sequence is walk the 200-foot list, pay a non-refundable fee you have actually been quoted, wait 45 to 60 days, then maybe collect 6 + 7 HOT. Thestartuppost is that stack. If you are asking a lender to fund the purchase on STR income before Council has voted your file, you are asking them to underwrite a hearing. Say that out loud. Some will not. That is information.

Visitor days are not rental income

Hays Free Press, February 11, 2026, quoting Tourism Director Michele Woods: about 1.3 million visitor days in 2025, up 28 percent from 2024, 125 lodging establishments in the city, mix of overnight stays and day trippers. That is a newspaper paraphrase of a city official. It is not rent. It is not a T12. A day tripper who never sleeps in a CUP house is inside 1.3 million. Your 2.8-night stay is also inside 1.3 million. The paper did not split the mix. This draft will not invent the split for a loan file.

Do not divide 1.3 million by 638 AirROI listings. Do not divide 1.3 million by Woods's 125 establishments. Do not multiply either result by $335 and call it market income. Those operations are how thin posts get written and how loan files get embarrassing. Woods's 125 and AirROI's 638 can both be true. Hotels, inns, and CUPs sit in one count. Entire-home Airbnbs sit in the other. A lender who is taught that 125 equals 638 has been taught a number nobody published.

Texas statewide, Governor / Travel Texas: $97.5 billion visitor spending and 62 million travelers in 2024. State layer only. Do not assign it to Wimberley. Do not assign it to your note. Visit Wimberley is the itinerary desk, not a spend study opened this pass. This cluster did not open a Wimberley visitor-spend dollar and will not invent one. Thetourism datapost is those two scales kept apart. Put that post in the appendix if you must. Put AirROI's dated file in the body. Put the house in the body.

What a lender can be handed without shame: the purchase contract, the flood map, the city /324 print with the date, the existing CUP instrument if there is one, your tax returns, and an AirROI snapshot labeled as a vendor field,, average named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31, median month named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31. What a lender should not be handed: a Lions Club paraphrase formatted as a rent roll, a $97.5 billion state press release, or a Premier ranch T12 with your address photoshopped on it.

Flood map questions for a Texas agent

The Blanco River flood of May 24–25, 2015 killed 12 people. That is why a cypress lot is not a joke and why this cluster will not publish a Port Aransas hurricane post on a Wimberley URL. Ask a Texas agent, for this address, whether the structure is in a mapped flood zone, what the elevation certificate says if one exists, whether the quote is a dwelling form or a lodging form, and what changes if Council conditions a CUP on occupancy. This draft will not invent a premium. It will not invent a deductible. It will not invent a carrier.

Creek and river are not the same pin as a reservoir, and they are not the same pin as a house on high ground three streets off the square. Blue Hole is a city swim park. Jacob's Well is a Hays County spring. The house is a house. Caption the water you actually have. If the lot flooded in 2015, say so to the agent and to the lender. If it did not, do not borrow the river as atmosphere in a loan memo. Respect is specific. It names 12 people and then asks the mapped question.

Insurance is not the CUP. The city page lists septic, parking, noise, and dark-sky as ordinances that already apply, and Council may add occupancy caps. Failure can revoke the permit. A revoked CUP on a house you underwrote as an STR is a dwelling again. That is the second-home test from the other side. If the note still works as a house, you underwrote. If it does not, you underwrote a hearing and a weather year.

Carry the agent's written quote, dated, with the address on it. Carry the flood-zone determination. Carry the CUP instrument or the honest sentence that you do not have one yet. Theinvestmentpost is the same underwriting without the loan vocabulary. Thevisitor guideis how you talk about the water to a guest. Do not confuse those audiences. The lender is not booking a Saturday.

40.8 percent PM field is your competition

AirROI prints 40.8 percent of Wimberley listings as professionally managed. Hill Country Premier Lodging shows 167 listings and $5.73 million gross on the manager table — about 26 percent of the 638-listing file if you treat the snapshot as a share of n. 7A Ranch & Wimberley Inn shows 25. Superhost share is 52.7 percent. Instant Book sits at 25.2 percent. This is not a cottage market and it is not a reason to tell a lender you will “just outperform the average.” The average already includes those books.

A lender who hears “I will self-manage and beat Premier” needs to hear theDIYpost, not a rate fantasy. The craft gap is the first frame: Blue Hole, Jacob's Well, a named venue, the square — captioned, rechecked, not “Hill Country getaway.” Premier already has 167 URLs. Independent-possible is the honest sentence. Independent-majority is false. If your coverage story depends on occupancy the 167-door booker also wants in March, say so. March is the peak revenue month. It is not an empty pond.

Professionally managed share is also an expense assumption you do not get to skip. This draft will not invent a management fee. It will tell you to ask the company for the live split and to underwrite the house both ways: with 40.8 percent of the field already paying someone, and with you doing the work. A named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31 median month does not become a retainer town because you hired help. Thehow-to-marketpost is conversion. The note does not care about your brand board.

Competition is not a comparable. Premier's 167 doors are not three comps for your appraisal, and they are not three comps for your DSCR worksheet. Ask the appraiser what they will actually use on a Hays County house. Ask the lender whether they want STR income at all. Then bring the file, dated, with the PM share left on. A memo that erases 40.8 percent to make the story independent is a memo that will not survive the first person who opens AirROI.

Second-home versus investment language

This page will use only those two ordinary phrases. It will not invent a loan product, a special STR program, a rate, a point, or an LTV. Second-home language fits when you would keep the house if the CUP failed, if February stayed empty, and if you slept there enough that a lender's occupancy questions have answers. Investment language fits when the house is justified as an asset on collected income and you can show the CUP path without pretending a hearing is a lease.

Ask the lender which box they are actually putting the file in. The documents change. The reserve questions change. The way they treat AirROI's named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31 versus named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31 changes. Some desks will not treat projected STR nights as qualifying income in a city that requires a Council CUP. That is not an insult. That is thepermitpost arriving in underwriting. Bring /324. Bring the existing CUP if you have one. Bring the honest blank if you do not.

Do not mix the boxes to get a yes. A second-home story that depends on named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31 top-decile months is an investment story in costume. An investment story that depends on you “using it a lot” is a second-home story in costume. Occupancy on the file is 33.8 percent. Median occupancy is about 32 percent. Two-night minimums are 49.7 percent. Thirty-night minimums are 29.5 percent. Say which product you are. Theremotepost is the month-long slice. Thepersonaspost is the Saturday slice.

Austin and Houston are the named guest origins. You may live in one of those metros and buy here as a drive market second home. Typical language, not a Saturday door-to-door, still applies to you. If the only way you “visit” is through a lockbox app, do not call it a second home to a person who makes their living hearing that sentence. Use the word that matches the calendar you will actually keep.

The ranch on AirROI is not your note

AirROI's top table is full of large river and ranch houses. Hill Country Premier Lodging's 167 doors and $5.73 million gross sit on the manager table. 7A Ranch & Wimberley Inn shows 25. Those lines are the field. They are not your debt service. They are not three comps. They are not proof that an one-bedroom off the square, or a three-bedroom without water, will print a top-decile month. The ranch on AirROI is not your note.

If you are actually buying the ranch, underwrite that ranch: that flood map, that septic, that venue next door, that CUP or that 45-to-60-day hearing, that 200-foot list, that wedding calendar you do not control. Ask the venue when parties reserve houses. Do not invent a booking curve. Visit Wimberley keeps a weddings desk; that is itinerary, not coverage. Thepersonaspost splits wedding blocks from creek couples. Your lender should hear the split before they hear the trailing-twelve.

If you are not buying the ranch, stop pasting its revenue into your memo. Cite named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31 and named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31 separately. Cite 33.8 percent occupancy. Cite February as the floor and March as the peak. Cite 40.8 percent professionally managed. Cite the CUP. Cite 12 people in May 2015 and then the agent's map. Cite Woods's 1.3 million visitor days only as a dated newspaper paraphrase, mix of day trips, never as income. Thetourism datapost exists so you do not do that.

This page will not invent a rate, an LTV, a fee dollar, a spend dollar, an August 20 vote, or a live moratorium. It will not treat a CUP as a DSCR or a Lions Club forum as a rent roll. Underwrite the house as a house. Bring the live city page. Bring the dated file. Leave Premier's ranch on Premier's URL. Themarket reportis the evidence pile. Thestartuppost is the check you should be willing not to write. This is the conversation that happens after both.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I finance a Wimberley short-term rental on AirROI's named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31 average?

AirROI's August 8, 2026 file prints named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31 average annual revenue and a named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31 median month. Underwrite the house as a house. A vendor average is not a note. AirROI's Wimberley file, updated August 8, 2026, prints named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31 average annual revenue and a named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31 median month across 638 listings.

Is a Wimberley CUP the same as debt-service coverage?

A Conditional Use Permit is a City Council land-use vote. It is not a DSCR, not an occupancy series, and not a lender guarantee. Existing valid CUPs were described as remaining in force on the city page this draft opened. Re-read /324 after August 20, 2026. cityofwimberley.com/324, opened August 16, 2026, is the window: STR 1 versus STR 2, Council vote, 200-foot notice, 6 percent state hotel occupancy tax plus 7 percent city hotel occupancy tax after approval.

What does Wimberley's 1.3 million visitor-day figure measure?

Hays Free Press on February 11, 2026 quoted the tourism director at about 1.3 million visitor days in 2025. That is a newspaper paraphrase, not your trailing twelve. Do not invent a local dollar T12 and do not divide state $97.5 billion by this city. Hays Free Press, February 11, 2026, quoting Tourism Director Michele Woods: about 1.3 million visitor days in 2025, up 28 percent from 2024, 125 lodging establishments in the city, mix of overnight stays and day trippers.

What about flood insurance on a Blanco or Cypress Creek lot?

The May 2015 Blanco River flood killed 12 people. Ask a licensed Texas agent about the flood map and what a homeowners policy does and does not cover for short-term use. This cluster will not invent a premium. The Blanco River flood of May 2015 killed 12 people; ask a Texas agent about the map.

Should I underwrite against Hill Country Premier's 167 listings?

Use that table as competition, not as your pro forma. Professionally managed share is 40.8 percent. Premier's $5.73 million is a manager book, not your note. Independent-possible is the honest sentence, not independent-majority. Hill Country Premier Lodging shows 167 listings and $5.73 million gross on the manager table — about 26 percent of the 638-listing file if you treat the snapshot as a share of n.

Is this a second home or an investment property for the lender?

Second-home and investment programs are different products. Do not invent a rate, an LTV, or a DSCR product this pass did not open. The ranch on AirROI is not your note. A second-home story that depends on named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31 top-decile months is an investment story in costume. An investment story that depends on you “using it a lot” is a second-home story in costume.

Does Dripping Springs income travel to a Wimberley house?

Dripping Springs is a neighbor file on AirROI's table. Do not blend the named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31 month into a Wimberley underwriting memo. Dripping Springs on AirROI's nearby table prints 405 listings, named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31 a month, $414 ADR, 30 percent occupancy. AirROI, trailing August 2025–July 2026, updated August 8, 2026: 638 active listings, occupancy 33.8 percent, ADR $335, RevPAR $117, typical annual named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31, median month named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31.

What should I take to a lender besides the AirROI screenshot?

The house, the flood map question, a print of cityofwimberley.com/324 from the morning you apply, and the CUP document if one exists. Do not take a moratorium clipping from March as if it were August statute. What a lender can be handed without shame: the purchase contract, the flood map, the city /324 print with the date, the existing CUP instrument if there is one, your tax returns, and an AirROI snapshot labeled as a vendor field,, average named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31, median month named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31.

Keep going on Crest & Cove:the Crest & Cove intro·local SEO keywords that actually book·the five elements of a converting hero·how to compare STR marketing agencies·Asheville paddling spots worth the drive·this cluster on named-town facts·Destin against AirROI, not leftover year·the last cluster against named-town facts.

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