Better service options / help for Long Distance Self-Managers in Smoky Mtns?

Question

You who have properties in the Smoky Mountain area (Gatlinburg, Townsend, Wears Valley, Sevierville, Pigeon Forge) and self manage from afar - what services do you wish were more available to help you manage from out of town?

Help with emergency situations?

Help with monitoring / checking in on short notice?

Short Term Project Management / managing subs (pricing, quality management, etc.) for additions, renovations, septic tank work?, - bigger tasks that need a bit more monitoring but you may not be able to handle yourself being out of town?

Looking for an opportunity to start a business that could help you and provide opportunities for me to learn.

Any ideas?

Luke Carl · Answer

Everything you described is what a property manager would do.

So here's my recommendation....

1. Become an actual property manager with licenses and websites and credentials. There is a need for good ones that haven't been around since pre-abb.

2. Provide actual services. Become a handyman.

Frankly there is no reason for me to pay you to call a handyman for me. If I wanted that I would hire someone in house to do that and more. Such as messages with guests. And I do have someone like that tin my organization. They don't even need to be local.

Here's the real deal. Totally appreciate your passion here and you're on the right track. I've said it 10000 times. If you move to a vacation town, (such as the one you're talking about where few live and many vacation), and you actually answer your phone and show up.... you can make a very good living. The problem is, at some point, everyone stops answering their phone and or showing up because it's a hard gig.

Hell I've got about 15 jobs for you right now. But that's not what you're looking for. It sounds to me like you're trying to find a way to be a property manager without calling yourself a property manager. If so, that's what's known as a co-host. Which to me is just a property manager that doesn't have a license.

I hope I gave you some food for thought!

Sarah Kensinger · Answer

So, I'm going to come at this from a completely different angle then everyone else, and maybe that is because I'm one of those co-hosts. Something that would be wonderful to have, is a network of trustworthy people that I can reach out to in the states we operate and hire someone for maybe one hour a day or every several days. Someone who can run over after the cleanings and make sure the property is in A+ order for the next guest. Or handle little tasks that come up that I would prefer not to make the cleaner take care of it.

Ken Boone · Answer

Me and my buddy's have said this for years.  Anyone can make a killing in the service profession in that town if they do 3 things:

1) Answer the phone or at least respond to voicemail in a reasonable amount of time.

2) Actually show up when you say you are going to show up

3) Do a good job at whatever you are doing.

It is that simple.  If you do those three things, people like me would pay a higher price to use you on a regular basis when the need arises.

The problem like Luke pointed out, is that it is hard and most people quickly find the need to hire others to help with the workload which brings you to the next problem.  The work pool there is not good.  It is extremely hard to find good workers in that town.

Collin Hays · Answer

I visited with a nice woman this week who self manages.  She was contemplating having us manage a Gatlinburg property for her because “I am tired of paying someone $150 to unplug a toilet because they have to drive so far to get to Gatlinburg.”

I politely told her not to give up self management for that:  I’m having to pay the same $150.  Plumbers can’t afford to live in Gatlinburg.  🚽 👨‍🔧

John Carbone · Answer

There is a need for this if someone operates a top quality rental. People are constantly complaining about someone not showing up for things. Majority of the time they issue refunds to guests and pay more for services. I know a few people here who operate businesses providing services. One of them does hot tub repairs, and he makes a massive profit margin just by scouring Facebook groups for business and he sends out an unqualified person to do the actual job while he pockets a huge premium for finding the work on Facebook. The other sub contracts out work he gets from Facebook marketplace for cleaners, you end up paying $250 for a cleaner and you end up getting “BO” who is fresh off a weekend bender to clean your cabin for crackhead prices and 70 percent of the take goes to the guy who found the work on marketplace. It’s so rampant out here even in legitimate companies. Both of these guys I speak of drive in their 100k trucks and never do any of the actual work on site, they find the easy business online and will use any day labor they can find to send them out, and it’s easy because is nobody is here to hold them accountable.

There is a massive need for trustworthy PMs here with an established handyman/contractor on the payroll, if you can provide this for 20-25 percent that would be a good deal for everyone.

Dustin Travis Ray · Answer

Always good advice from Legendary Luke!

I guess what I was going for was that I know it can be a cash flow killer a lot of times to have a monthly expense for property management. But if you didn’t need around the year management is there another option? What if there was a service for isolated events? Emergency stop ins from someone close and local, end of year remodels involving multiple subcontractors (for bigger projects than what a handyman can handle). And maybe that’s the answer - there’s no real need for that. Just fishing for ideas.

Love the podcast Luke! Keep it up!

Dustin Travis Ray · Answer

Thanks everyone. Good advice.

Michael Baum · Answer

So much good feed back here.

Leslie Anne Morris · Answer

I’d love to hear more about what your background and strengths are. Some of us here own property management companies and we are always looking for good partners.

Better service options / help for Long Distance Self-Managers in Smoky Mtns?

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