Quick answer: The most expensive mistake in Florida investment property is not choosing the wrong city. It is comparing a short-term gross yield against a long-term net yield, deciding the short-term model wins, and discovering the gap afterwards. Those two numbers are not the same kind of number.
Every listing for a Florida investment property quotes whichever yield figure looks better. For a long-term rental that is usually net, because the costs are modest and predictable. For a short-term rental it is almost always gross, because the cost base is large enough that showing it would change the conversation.
Presented side by side, as they routinely are, the comparison is not close. Corrected, it is often close enough to go either way.
The two figures, and why they are not comparable
| Model | Typical headline | What the figure includes |
|---|---|---|
| East Broward long-term single-family | 4 to 5% | Net of operating costs |
| Beach short-term rental | 7 to 9% | Gross, before everything |
The right column is the entire article. A gross yield is revenue divided by price. A net yield is what remains after the property has been run for a year.
For a long-term rental the distance between those is modest: management at a single-digit percentage, some maintenance, insurance, tax, and a vacancy allowance measured in weeks.
For a short-term rental the distance is large.
What comes out of a short-term gross figure
| Cost | Scale |
|---|---|
| Combined transient tax | around 13% of gross in Broward |
| Management | commonly 20 to 25% of gross |
| Cleaning and linen | per booking |
| Utilities | owner pays, year round |
| Insurance | higher than a long-term equivalent |
| Association dues | fixed |
| Vacancy | shoulder season, not weeks |
Work a 7 to 9% gross figure through that list and the surviving net can land anywhere from comfortably above a long-term yield to below it, depending almost entirely on the property and the operator.
That variance is the honest answer, and it is why a single number for either model is not a decision.
How to run the comparison properly
The comparison only works when both sides are net and both describe the same property.
- Take the specific property, not a market average.
- Model it as a long-term rental: achievable annual rent, less management, maintenance, insurance, tax and a realistic vacancy allowance.
- Model the same property as a short-term rental: achievable rate by month, realistic occupancy, less the full cost list above.
- Compare the two net figures.
- Then adjust for the difference in effort and risk, because the short-term model is a business and the long-term model is closer to an asset.
An investor who does this discovers something useful regardless of the answer. Sometimes the short-term model wins by a wide margin, on the right property with the right operator. Sometimes it wins by so little that the additional work and volatility are not worth it. Both outcomes are more useful than the headline comparison, which always produces the same answer.
Two things the yield figure never captures
Even a properly calculated net yield leaves out two factors that decide whether an owner is glad they bought.
The first is the labour. A long-term rental is a handful of decisions a year: a lease renewal, a repair, an inspection. A short-term rental with weekly turnover is a small hospitality business, and even under full management it generates a stream of approvals, complaints and replacements the owner has to attend to. Yield does not price the owner’s time, and for a remote owner that time is often what actually runs out.
The second is the shape of the risk. Long-term income fails in one large way, when a tenant stops paying, and that failure is slow and visible. Short-term income fails in many small ways at once: a hurricane season, a regulatory change, a platform ranking shift, a competitor opening fifty keys nearby. The average may be higher and the variance certainly is.
Neither factor argues against short-term letting. Both argue for the comparison being made with the eyes open, particularly by a buyer who will be several thousand miles away.
The Broward-specific factors
Two local conditions shape this particular comparison.
Broward’s regulatory position varies by municipality, so whether the short-term model is available at all is a parcel-level question rather than a county one. Our Broward County STR rules set out the position.
And the east Broward long-term market is genuinely strong, which raises the bar the short-term model has to clear. In markets where long-term yields are thin, short-term letting wins easily on arithmetic. Here it has to earn the difference.
Our reading: the 4 to 5% net figure is the benchmark to beat, and beating it with a gross number is not the same as beating it.
The full method is in our Florida rental yield guide, financing costs in our DSCR rates update, the insurance line in our hurricane deductible update, and market conditions in our Florida inventory tracker.
Frequently Asked Questions
Our reading put long-term net yields near 4 to 5% on east Broward single-family homes. That is a net figure, after operating costs, and is not comparable to a gross number.
That is a gross headline. Before the roughly 13% tax stack, management, cleaning, insurance and vacancy, and it is not the number that reaches an owner.
It depends on the property and the operator, which is why the comparison has to be run net against net on the same asset rather than gross against net across two.
Comparing a short-term gross yield against a long-term net yield. It is the default presentation in listings and it overstates the short-term model by several percentage points.
Sources: yield ranges are Florida Estate observations recorded in 2026 on east Broward and beach properties we underwrite, and are not published market averages. Cost categories reflect standard Broward operating structures. Verified 27 August 2026.
Run both models on one property
Send a Broward address. We model it as a long-term and a short-term rental, net in both cases, and show you the two numbers side by side.