What it actually costs
to own here.
Snow removal. Fire insurance. Trash overage fees no one mentions until August. Enter your numbers below and get the full ledger — not just the mortgage payment.
What does it actually cost to run a Tahoe short-term rental?
There is no single number, but the fixed costs are knowable before you write an offer. In Placer County you are looking at 11–12% lodging tax on every booking, a $507.02 Fire Life Safety inspection, an annual permit renewal, and a snow removal service the county requires you to have in place. Insurance, cleaning, trash, utilities and a capital reserve sit on top of that. The calculator below runs your own numbers against every line.
What does snow removal cost for a Tahoe City short-term rental?
Budget about $800 a year for a plow contract plus roughly $3,000 once for your own snow blower. I pay both at my Tahoe City duplex. The contract covers the driveway and parking apron; the blower covers everything the plow will not touch — walkways, the deck, the path to the lockbox, and the berm the county plow leaves across the driveway at 4am. With guests checking in at 4pm you cannot wait for the next pass, which is why an owner-operator ends up paying for both.
01 Property & Financing
The purchase itself.
02 Rental Revenue
What the place can earn.
03 Fixed Annual Costs
Owed whether or not a single night books.
04 Site & Seasonal Costs
The things that surprise out-of-area buyers.
05 Guest-Servicing Costs
Scales with how often the place turns over.
06 Reserves
What a careful owner sets aside.
07 Living in Tahoe
The weeks you keep for yourself.
Annual, itemized
Get the real numbers for a specific address
Everything above is a placeholder until it's tied to an actual property. Tell me the address (or the area you're looking at) and I'll run the real insurance quote, the actual permit cost for that county, and realistic occupancy from comps — free, no obligation. I own and rent a Tahoe STR myself, so I know exactly where these estimates go wrong.