Buying a Place to Rent Short-Term: Screen the Address Before the Offer
The permit map is part of the property. A general method for screening any address — zoning, caps, phase-outs and the private layer — before money moves.
Every year, buyers close on homes whose rental income existed only in the listing copy. The screening below takes an afternoon and prices the risks that actually kill STR purchases. (Our paid kit ships a full worksheet version of this method — the method itself is free, and it is this:)
Step 1 — Resolve the government
"Las Vegas" is two regimes (city vs. Clark County) with different licenses. Orlando's hosted-only city rules sit beside Osceola County's resort subdivisions. Determine city vs. county vs. town first; half of all bad screens use the wrong government's page.
Step 2 — Read the zone, not the listing
Salt Lake City, Anaheim, Santa Barbara and Asheville answer at the zone level: residential means no (or homestay-only). The seller's "it's been rented for years" may describe tolerated illegality, a grandfathered use that dies at sale, or a license that does not transfer. Ask which — in writing.
Step 3 — Check the caps that ration supply
Clark County's 1% cap (under 200 licenses issued), San Diego's lottery tier, Breckenridge's zone caps, Santa Fe's 1,000-permit ceiling, Big Bear's town cap: in capped markets the permit is an asset with a queue. Whether a license transfers on sale is a contract question with a dollar answer — Key West's scarce transient licenses are the extreme case.
Step 4 — Search for clocks
Maui's apartment-condo phase-out (January 1, 2029 for West Maui; January 1, 2031 for the rest of the county) is the template: lawful today, scheduled to end. Pending bills, sunset clauses and renewal waves (New York's first registrations renew through 2027) belong in the price.
Step 5 — Read the private layer
HOA declarations, condo rules, ground leases. In Hilton Head the plantations decide more than the town does. Get the documents before the offer, not the surprise after.
Step 6 — Price the compliance, not just the fee
Los Angeles' Extended Home-Sharing path costs roughly $850 against the basic $89 permit; San Bernardino County's permit stack runs $1,144. Fees are small next to a wrong-zone purchase, but they belong in the model — as do the fine schedules our market pages print.
Run the free checker on any address you are screening: 50 markets cell-by-cell, the state layer for the rest, and every verdict stamped with its check date.