ScoUT Report · Illustrative sample 2
Prepared · Rules last checked 2026-10-07 · Sample 1 (Washington City)
Brian Head, Utah · Iron County · STR rules page coming soon
Kristi Condos #1-G — 681 S Hwy 143
Listing claim: “nightly rentals allowed.” ScoUT checked it against Brian Head code, and it holds up at the zone level. This is the closest of our 34 studied listings to penciling, and it still only works if you run it yourself. With a paid manager at 25%, it fails.
* Price as recorded in our 2026 study. One public portal now shows $285,000, so confirm the current price. At $285K, this deal gets worse. † $252 is the complex's published HOA for comparable units (it includes water, sewer, master insurance and snow removal). We haven't confirmed the HOA for #1-G itself.
ScoUT verdict
Loan likely qualifies · cash flow negativeWith confidence under 30, the band is UNKNOWN whatever the score says. Revenue is modelled from other markets, and there are no Brian Head comps on file. Treat every number here as a hypothesis to test.
This is where it flips: self-managing removes the $8,288/yr full-management fee. At an assumed 240 hours a year (20 hrs/month), that is an implied owner rate of about $35/hr vs full management, or $17/hr vs a ~12% hybrid co-host ($3,978/yr).
Why it ranks
It's a 2-bed ski condo you can walk to the lifts from, in a town where nightly rental is a permitted use in every residential zone. The HOA is low for Brian Head and includes water and sewer. It's the best fit in our study between price and income.
Primary risk
SENSITIVE_TO: revenue −15%. The self-managed base clears debt by only $1.9K a year. A 5.5% revenue miss takes cash flow to zero, and a 15% miss costs about 7 points of cash-on-cash.
The catch
“Pencils” here means you do the guest messaging, pricing and turnover coordination, and ScoUT values that time at $0. If your time is worth $20/hr at 20 hrs a month ($4,800/yr), the profit is gone.
Gate 1 · Can you legally run it?
Yellow · pending HOA docsBrian Head lists nightly rental with a business license as a permitted use in R-1 (single-family), R-2 and R-3, and lodging and nightly rentals in GC (Land Management Code 9-7-1.B to 9-7-4.B, Ord. 26-004). We matched the listing at the zone level; we have no written confirmation from the town for this unit.
The license is not transferable (Code 3-2A-11.H), so license the unit in your own name after closing. FY2027 fees: $151 new application ($122 renewal), plus a $190/yr disproportionate-cost fee for a condo ($515 for a cabin) and a $30 fire inspection (Res. 26-576). The town also charges 1.5% of taxable sales, due quarterly (Code 2-11-3), and Airbnb does not remit it for you. The listing doesn't mention any of this.
The town's STR policy page says an STR must be connected to water; hauled water is prohibited for STR use under the Southwest Utah Public Health Department regulation. The complex's HOA dues include water and sewer. Confirm the connection on the title or HOA disclosure anyway.
We haven't read the CC&Rs. Ask for the recorded CC&Rs, the rental rules, any minimum stay, any HOA rental fee, the reserve study and any planned special assessments. Older complexes often add roof and siding assessments, which this model doesn't include.
Gate 2 · Can you finance it?
Fail · DSCR 0.58Assumptions: DSCR loan at 7.25%, 30-year amortization; closing costs 3% ($7,500); furnishing top-up $5,000 (the unit is assumed furnished); HO-6 insurance $1,200/yr (an estimate, not a quote). ScoUT's gate divides NOI after all operating costs by debt service. With a manager at 25%, the base case is 0.58x at 25% down. To reach 1.0x it needs about $48,400 in gross bookings (1.24 times the base), or a price near $170,000.
Loan qualifies? (lender DSCR)
Likely yes · 1.35x
Gross-rent basis: $39,000 × 75% (a 25% STR expense factor; per A&D Mortgage's published DSCR guideline, which counts 75% of STR income; other lenders use 10–25%) = $29,250, ÷ PITIA $21,613 (payment, tax, insurance, HOA). Ignores management, cleaning and utilities.
Actual cash flow (economic DSCR)
Negative · 0.58x · −$6,379/yr
NOI after every operating cost, pro-managed, ÷ debt service. This is what ScoUT's Gate 2 uses. A loan approval isn't proof the property makes money.
Underwriting MODELLED · L0
Annual figures, financed at 25% down, base case| Line | Full mgmt (25%) · selected | Hybrid (12%) | Self-managed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross bookings (excl. TRT/sales tax) | 39,000 | 39,000 | 39,000 |
| of which cleaning fees (12%, pass-through) | 4,680 | 4,680 | 4,680 |
| Rental revenue ex-cleaning | 34,320 | 34,320 | 34,320 |
| OTA fees (3% host-side) | −1,170 | −1,170 | −1,170 |
| Management (25% / 12% / 0% of rental ex-cleaning, net of OTA) | −8,288 | −3,978 | 0 |
| Cleaning cost (55 turns × $110), offset by fees above | −6,050 | −6,050 | −6,050 |
| Utilities (power, internet; water/sewer in HOA) | −2,400 | −2,400 | −2,400 |
| Supplies (2%) | −686 | −686 | −686 |
| Maintenance (1% of price) | −2,500 | −2,500 | −2,500 |
| CapEx reserve (5% of rental) | −1,716 | −1,716 | −1,716 |
| Insurance, HO-6 (estimate) | −1,200 | −1,200 | −1,200 |
| Property tax (100% FMV, non-primary; 2025 Brian Head tax-area rate 0.8162%) | −2,041 | −2,041 | −2,041 |
| HOA ($252 × 12) | −3,024 | −3,024 | −3,024 |
| License $371 (FY2027: $151 new + $190 condo + $30 fire) + 1.5% town fee on taxable sales (operator-borne) | −956 | −956 | −956 |
| Net operating income | 8,970 | 13,279 | 17,257 |
| Debt service | −15,349 | −15,349 | −15,349 |
| Cash flow | −6,379 | −2,070 | +1,908 |
| Cash-on-cash (on $75,000) | −8.5% | −2.8% | +2.5% |
| Economic DSCR (NOI ÷ debt service) | 0.58 | 0.87 | 1.12 |
| Lender DSCR (gross × 75% ÷ PITIA) | 1.35 | 1.35 | 1.35 |
Pro-managed by scenario (25% down), conservative / base / upside: −$11,146 / −$6,379 / −$1,613 (DSCR 0.27 / 0.58 / 0.89). Hybrid (12%): −$7,610 / −$2,070 / +$3,470 (DSCR 0.50 / 0.87 / 1.23). Self-managed: −$4,346 / +$1,908 / +$8,162 (DSCR 0.72 / 1.12 / 1.53). Cleaning is counted once: the $4,680 of guest cleaning fees stays in revenue and the full $6,050 cleaner cost is deducted (audited 2026-10-07; the corrected model reproduces every figure here). Rows may not add exactly because of rounding. Utah transient room and sales taxes are pass-through, so they're excluded from revenue. Brian Head's 1.5% Enhanced Service fee (Code 2-11-3) is a business-license fee on the operator, not a guest tax, and Airbnb doesn't collect it, so it is modelled as an operating cost that scales with revenue.
Annual cash flow by scenario
Financed at 25% down: pro-managed vs self-managed. Bars drawn to scale.
Pro-managed (25%) Self-managed (your time at $0)
Sensitivity (self-managed, financed base, 2.54% CoC)
Change in cash-on-cash, percentage points
Breakeven: the self-managed base can fall only about 5.5% before cash flow hits zero. All-cash with a 25% manager, it can fall 33.8% (all-cash self-managed: 49.5%).
Long-term-rental downside MODELLED
If nightly rental failed (an HOA change, a town rule change or a bad season), ScoUT assumes $1,500/mo rent (an assumption, not a rent comp; Brian Head has a thin long-term market), 5% vacancy, 8% management and tenant-paid utilities.
| LTR NOI | $7,541 |
| Cash flow, financed | −$7,808 |
| DSCR, financed | 0.49 |
| Cash flow, all-cash | +$7,541 (2.9%) |
What it would take
- Run it yourself, or go hybrid with more down. At 25% down only self-managing clears 1.0x economic DSCR (1.12, a thin $1.9K cushion). A ~12% hybrid co-host reaches 1.00 at 35% down (about break-even) and 1.30 at 50%.
- Prove $48K+ in bookings with seller statements (L3). At that level, a professionally managed unit clears 1.0x.
- Or a price near $170K, which gets a pro-managed unit to 1.0x on the base revenue.
- More down doesn't fix full management. Even at 50% down, the fully managed economic DSCR is 0.88, while the lender DSCR is 1.77.
- All-cash is a parking spot. Modelled CoC is 1.6% / 3.5% / 5.3%, scoring 51.8, with the band UNKNOWN on data confidence.
Verification level
Confidence 25.5 / 100Confidence inputs: revenue 0.25 · expenses 0.45 · legal 0.80 · comps 0.00 · recency 0.85 (geometric mean). Zero comps is what holds confidence down. Five Brian Head 2-bed comps, or the seller's statements, would change the picture more than anything else.
Sources
- Brian Head Land Management Code 9-7-1.B to 9-7-4.B (Ord. 26-004, Apr 28, 2026): nightly rental permitted uses by zone
- Brian Head Town Code 3-2A-11.H (license not transferable), 3-2A-21-3 (nightly rental license), 2-11-3 (1.5% fee)
- Utah State Tax Commission, 2025 Tax Rates by Tax Area, Iron County tax areas 005/011/012 (Brian Head): final adopted rate 0.008162
- A&D Mortgage DSCR short-term rental guideline: 75% of 12-month average STR income (basis for the 25% lender haircut; varies by lender)
- Brian Head Res. 26-576, FY2027 consolidated fee schedule
- Town of Brian Head cabin rental policy page (water requirement; grade B)
- ScoUT 34-listing information-gap study (R2), listing row: verdict CONFIRMED, zone-level
- Public listing portals (search results, 2026-10-07) for beds, baths, square footage and the complex HOA range; figures as displayed, not verified
- AirDNA market averages, Sept 2026: Garden City, St. George, Hurricane, Park City (internal research, R1; vendor data, unaudited)
- Model: scout_score.py (R2 spec). Rates and defaults are placeholders that haven't been calibrated yet.
Rules last checked 2026-10-07.
Illustrative sample. This report uses a real public listing to show the ScoUT format. Revenue and expenses are estimates, not guarantees. Revenue is modelled from other markets' averages, not Brian Head data. Legal findings reflect our reading of the cited code on the date shown and are not legal advice. Before you rely on them, confirm with the Town of Brian Head, the HOA and your lender. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or not buy.
Brokered by Equity Real Estate - NRE · Utah. MLS listing data is shown as received, and ScoUT analysis is labeled separately.