What a 3 bed house in West Palm Beach, FL returns

Median list price291 three bed homes for sale, October 2026

$659,000

Median asking rent252 three bed homes for rent, October 2026

$3,160 a month

Gross yieldA year of rent divided by the list price

5.8%

Yield after operating costs$15,498 a year, after 5% vacancy, 8% management, 5% maintenance, 5% reserves, and tax and insurance at 1.2% and 0.9% of the price

2.4%

Monthly cash flow with a loan25% down ($164,687) and a 7% 30 year loan at $3,287 a month, a -14.5% cash on cash return before closing costs

-$1,995

At the median, a financed 3 bed here costs $1,995 a month more than it collects. A rental works in West Palm Beach when it is bought well under the median, rents above it, or is bought with more cash down.

A flip has to clear its renovation, its financing and holding costs, and the cost of selling before it earns anything. Here is what that adds up to for a 1,577 square foot 3 bed bought at the median list price of $659,000.

The median 3 bed listing here sits for 68 days. With about a month to close after that, selling alone takes about 3.2 months, on top of the renovation, and every one of those months carries interest, tax and insurance.

Renovation is our catalog of contractor pricing (version 2026-09) at the FL cost level (0.98 times the national average), for a 3 bed, 2 bath house, with a 15% contingency. Financing is 85% of purchase and renovation at 11% with 2% in points; carrying costs are tax, insurance and $200 a month in utilities; selling is 5.5% commission, 1% closing and 0.70% Florida transfer tax, on a resale at today's median.

So a flip here earns money only if the finished house resells for more than $822,000 after a light refresh, or $937,000 after a real renovation. Whether a given house can do that depends on what the renovated houses around it sell for, which is an address question.

Average nightly rate3 bed whole homes, trailing 12 months

$389

OccupancyShare of nights booked

51%

Revenue per available nightNightly rate times occupancy

$207

Revenue a monthAbout $75,555 a year at that rate

$6,296

Active listingsIn AirROI's West Palm Beach, Florida market

306

A nightly rental costs more to run than a lease. After 20% management, 6% cleaning, 3% platform fees, 4% supplies and $350 a month in utilities, that revenue is about $3,868 a month, against $2,760 from a long-term lease after vacancy and management. Tax, insurance and maintenance are left out of both, since both pay them.

Nightly revenue swings far more than rent. It is seasonal, it depends on the listing as much as the house, and an average across a city mixes busy, professionally run rentals with spare bedrooms. Treat it as the middle of a wide range, and check that nightly rentals are allowed at the address before counting on any of it.

Everything above describes a typical 3 bed listing across the city. The things that most often make or break a particular house are specific to its address, and none of them are in these numbers:

• Flood zone. A house in a FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area carries mandatory flood insurance that can erase a rental's cash flow. Flood risk changes street by street, so there is no honest city-wide figure for it.
• Short-term rental rules. Whether you can rent nightly at all is set by the city, the county, and often an HOA, and it can differ between two houses on the same street.
• HOA rules and fees. An HOA can cap rentals, set a minimum lease length, or add a monthly fee that none of these figures include.
• Permits and condition. Open or unpermitted work, a roof near the end of its life, or old wiring changes a renovation budget more than any city average can.
• The price you actually pay. These are list prices and asking rents, not closed sales or signed leases.