Why a conventional lender ignores it
Conventional underwriting wants income it can verify from the past, a signed long-term lease, two years of tax returns showing rental income. A property you haven’t bought yet, that you plan to rent by the night, produces neither. So the income gets valued at nothing and you get qualified on your personal debt-to-income alone.
That’s not a judgment about the property. It’s a documentation type that has no slot for what you’re describing.
What stands in for a track record
On a business-purpose file, projected short-term rental income is typically supported one of two ways. A market data report estimates what comparable properties in that specific area actually earn, drawn from platform booking data. Or the appraiser completes a short-term rent schedule as part of the valuation.
Which one a lender wants, and how much weight it carries, varies by lender and by market. A well-established vacation market with a lot of comparable inventory supports an estimate more convincingly than a property that would be the only short-term rental for miles.
If you already have history
Once the property has been operating, platform earnings statements do the work, and the conversation gets easier. For an operator adding a fourth or fifth unit, the existing portfolio’s performance is usually the strongest thing in the file.
The complications worth raising early
Seasonality matters, a market that earns most of its year in four months underwrites differently than one with steady demand. Local regulation matters more: permit caps, primary-residency requirements, and HOA rules can change what the property is allowed to do.
Permit and ordinance questions belong with the city or a local attorney, not a lender. What financing can do is avoid boxing you in, structuring so the property still works if it ever has to convert to a long-term rental.
One thing this does not cover
You cannot live in it. Short-term rental financing is business-purpose lending on a property you do not occupy, so a house-hack is not eligible for this program, whether that is a duplex where you take one side or a home with an ADU you live in. If that is what you are buying, it is an owner-occupied purchase and a different conversation entirely.