Most rental calculators show you a big number and quietly leave out the parts that take it away. This one starts from a sampling of the homes we manage in Buena Vista that meet the criteria you set, and what they actually earned over the last twelve months. It strips out the fees you never receive, subtracts what it costs to run the place, and shows you what would land in your account.
We built this because we kept meeting owners who had been shown a number by somebody else and were about to make a real decision on it. Almost always that number was the nightly rate multiplied by a hopeful occupancy figure, with the cleaning fee counted as income and nothing taken back out. It is not a lie exactly. It is just not the number that shows up in your bank account.
Look up a Chaffee County address, or just fill in the details. Nothing is sent anywhere — the whole thing runs in your browser.
Starts at what a home this size actually booked across the properties we manage — close to the 46% occupancy AirROI reports for the Buena Vista market in 2026. Move it if you have a number of your own.
Defaults are our own operating experience, not measured averages — move them to match your situation.
Ours is 20% of the nightly rate. Full service in mountain Colorado commonly runs 20–30%.
Repairs, consumables, restocking, wear and tear.
Insurance, property tax, utilities, internet, STR licence.
Take-home after management, maintenance and fixed costs. We show the conservative figure as the expected one on purpose — it is the one worth planning around.
Measured comes from our own managed properties. Estimated is our operating judgment, and you should treat it as a starting point rather than a finding.
Every estimator has to start somewhere. Ours starts with a sampling of the homes we manage in Buena Vista that meet the criteria you set above, and what they actually did between 1 August 2025 and 1 August 2026, taken straight out of our management system. Here is the whole basis, so you can judge it for yourself.
2 bedrooms — $149 average nightly rate · 69% occupancy · 249 nights booked
3 bedrooms — $246 average nightly rate · 45% occupancy · 163 nights booked
4 bedrooms — $436 average nightly rate · 36% occupancy · 132 nights booked
Portfolio occupancy came out at 47.3%. AirROI puts the Buena Vista market average at roughly 46% for 2026. Two independent sources about a point apart is the best evidence we have that these homes are performing normally rather than unusually well or badly.
Between those three points the estimator interpolates. Outside them — a one-bedroom, or anything above four — it extrapolates, and you should hold those results more loosely. The adjustments for distance from town, hot tub, views and finish are our judgment from operating here, not measurements. We have marked them accordingly rather than dressing them up.
One number deserves a caveat. Our two-bedroom reaches 69% occupancy, which is genuinely high, and it is a distinctive little property on a creek. We have pulled the two-bedroom default down toward the market so the tool does not promise you something only that house delivers.
These are the tool's own outputs for the three bedroom counts we have measured, with every control left exactly where it loads — a home one to three miles out of town, ordinary good condition, dog friendly, no hot tub, 20% management, 8% maintenance and supplies, and $6,000 a year of fixed costs. Change any of those and the numbers change with them. Take-home is what is left after all three deductions.
| Home | Nightly rate | Occupancy | Nights booked | Rental revenue | Expected take-home | Mid case |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 bedroom | $158 | 63% | 229 | $36,196 | $17,455 | $20,061 |
| 3 bedroom | $261 | 48% | 176 | $45,928 | $23,762 | $27,068 |
| 4 bedroom | $463 | 39% | 142 | $65,676 | $36,558 | $41,287 |
The underlying nightly rates and occupancy are measured from our own managed properties over the twelve months to August 2026; the figures in this table are those measurements after the default location and dog-friendly adjustments, which is why they sit a little above the raw numbers quoted below. Revenue is nightly accommodation only — cleaning, pet and hot tub fees are excluded, because the owner does not receive them. Expected take-home is the conservative case, and it is the one we would plan around.
Nights booked is the figure owners argue with most, and usually for good reason — they know their own place, or they have a year of their own history to go on. So we made it a control rather than a fixed assumption. Push it to 200 if you believe you can fill 200. Pull it back to 110 to see what a quiet year looks like before you commit to anything. The nightly rate holds steady and everything downstream recalculates around it.
Where it starts is not a guess. It is what a home of that size actually booked across the properties we manage, and it lands close to the roughly 46% occupancy AirROI reports for the Buena Vista market in 2026. Reset to average puts it back there whenever you want it back. Everything else on the page is unchanged — this is a dial, not a new set of assumptions.
Across the owner accounts we invoice, maintenance, repairs, supplies and restocking bill out at a low single-digit percentage of nightly rental revenue — noticeably less than the 8% this tool starts at. We left the default high on purpose. Our books only see the work that comes through us, and an owner also pays for propane, snow removal, the lawn, pest control, appliances that reach the end of their life, and the year something expensive goes wrong. A number set to what we happen to invoice would flatter the estimate. Set the slider to your own experience if you have it; if you do not, 8% is the safer place to start.
This is the single biggest reason our numbers look lower than everybody else's, and it is worth being blunt about.
Cleaning fees, pet fees and hot tub fees are collected from the guest and spent on the guest. They pay the cleaner, the laundry, the turnover supplies. No owner keeps them — not with us, not with anyone. Across our portfolio those fees add roughly 24% on top of nightly rental revenue. So a calculator that counts them makes a house look about a quarter better than it is, before it has even got to the optimistic occupancy assumption.
Everything in this tool is nightly rate only.
Owners ask about occupancy more than any other figure, and it is close to the least useful one on its own. Our two-bedroom runs at 69% — nearly double our four-bedroom — and pays its owner roughly $16,000 a year less.
Small homes fill easily at $149 a night. Large homes book fewer, longer, higher-value stays at $436. A calendar that is full at the wrong rate is not a win. If someone shows you a high occupancy figure as the headline, ask what the nightly rate was.
Being straight about the gaps is more useful than pretending there are none.
It does not know your property. It has never seen the finish, the parking, the noise from the road, or whether the hot tub actually works in February. It assumes the home is licensed and legal to operate — and as of late July 2026 the Town of Buena Vista has a temporary moratorium pausing new short-term rental licence applications, currently set to expire 30 September 2026. Existing licensed rentals carry on. The licensing rules are worth reading before you buy anything.
It does not model your mortgage, your depreciation or your tax position, and it is not financial advice. It also assumes a full twelve months of availability; if you plan to use the place yourself, every week you block is a week that cannot earn. One of the owners we work with reserves four weeks a year, which is completely reasonable and costs roughly a tenth of the year's booking capacity.
An estimator can only do so much from a bedroom count. We are in Buena Vista, we will walk the property, and we will tell you honestly if we think it is a poor fit — that happens, and it is better said early.
Call 719-626-8755Across the homes we manage, a two-bedroom averaged about $149 a night, a three-bedroom about $246, and a four-bedroom about $436, over the twelve months to August 2026. Occupancy ran the other way — smaller homes filled more often. A four-bedroom booking 132 nights produced roughly $57,500 in nightly rental revenue before any fees or costs.
No. Cleaning, pet and hot-tub fees are collected from the guest and spent on the guest — they pay the cleaners and the turnover. No owner keeps them, at any management company. Across our portfolio those fees add roughly 24% on top of the nightly rate, so any estimate that counts them as revenue overstates what you would actually receive by about a quarter.
Our managed portfolio ran 47.3% occupancy over the twelve months to August 2026, against a Buena Vista market average of about 46% reported by AirROI for 2026. Smaller homes run higher — our two-bedroom reached 69% — while larger homes book fewer, longer, higher-value stays.
Buena Vida charges a flat 20% of the nightly rate, on month-to-month terms. The fee is calculated on nightly accommodation revenue only — not on guest fees, and not on taxes. Full-service management in mountain Colorado markets commonly runs 20% to 30%.
As of late July 2026 a temporary moratorium has paused new short-term rental licence applications in the Town of Buena Vista, currently set to expire 30 September 2026. Existing licensed rentals continue operating. Verify current rules with the Town of Buena Vista before you buy or plan around a licence.
Two reasons. It excludes guest fees the owner never receives, and it deducts the management fee, maintenance and fixed costs to show take-home rather than gross. We also present the conservative end of the range as the expected figure rather than the optimistic end.
Related: If the numbers here look workable, this is what short-term rental management in Buena Vista actually involves day to day.
Sources & method: Nightly rate and occupancy anchors are measured from Buena Vida Home Services' own managed portfolio in Buena Vista, 1 August 2025 – 1 August 2026. Market occupancy comparison from AirROI's Buena Vista market report, 2026. Licensing status from the Town of Buena Vista. Property lookup uses the public Chaffee County parcel service; parcels flagged as protected are not returned. Adjustments for distance, features and finish are operator estimates, not measurements. This tool is an estimate, not a projection or a guarantee, and it is not financial advice. Verify current rules with the Town of Buena Vista.