Smoky Mountains STR market

[Raj Sat]

Am in market to purchase a cabin for STR investment and scouting the area in Zillow and surprised how inflated the prices are.

I selected few houses and did a math with rental numbers and my monthly operating costs and am loosing minimum of 10% 

is this right time to buy cabin in Smoky's or wait? experts please jump in. 

Saw this data yesterday on twitter, Sevierville taking big hit

[Leora Merrell]

People are ignoring the follow up to this post on Twitter. He pointed out specifically that the timing of when you bought and how you financed it will play heavily into what you will personally see in your results. 
Take any comments you see on Facebook groups about being up with a grain of salt. Those groups are full of every one who is “crushing it” and typically with several who have something to sell to you sprinkled in. Rarely does anyone admit to anything but amazing results. 
I have 6 in the area. I have a friend with 3, and several friends with 1-2. We all have ratings of 4.94+ on every property and have the views every one says you need. We are excellent hosts. We're ALL down from last year. Every single property. But we all bought in 2020-2021 (several of us cut out the realtor after our first buy saving tons of money) before the boom went crazy and have rates in the 3s. So we're totally fine. Those who bought late 2021-mid 2022 probably won't be. I have another friend who bought May 2022. Took out a HELOC on his primary to finance. He's barely making ends meet and will likely have to sell come September if it continues.
Doesn't mean there aren’t properties for sale that won’t cash flow though. I see them some times and I look every day. But it’s definitely more difficult with current pricing. And the building just keeps going.