Considering Selling 2 Bedroom Cabin Gatlinburg

[Cole Harris]

Beautiful 2 bedroom 2 full bath cabin at Gatlinburg Falls Resort in Gatlinburg, TN.  We bring in between $50-$60k per year in rental income.  The location is 10 minutes from the strip.  I'm looking to get around $715k for the property.  Any thoughts?  

[Garrett Brown]

Is that net income? How did you come up with $715,000? Who manages it? Why are you selling? etc. I'm not your buyer, but I would ask those questions after reading it. 

[Luke Carl]

You'll need to look at comps. Of course I would recommend talking to a qualified realtor but I'm married to the biggest realtor the smokies have ever seen so I'm biased.

Keep in mind sales are way down right now. Worst they've ever been in fact. This is a nation wide issue but just want to make sure you realize. Cabins are sitting on the market for a long time with little action. We used to see 20 buyers for 1 cabin now we see 1 buyer for 20 cabins.

I'm sorry to say 715 is way too much for a 2/2. Although you didn't post pics or anything so maybe it has a huge view or a 3rd sleeping area or a ton of sq ft.

Your income is also low. If that were my property (again having not seen it) I would be able to get 80k out of it. That said the income really doesn't matter too much when it comes to selling it. It's just a single family home so the rents don't effect the appraised value.

Not a great time to be a seller right now unfortunately. But man you sellers sure had a good time about 4 years ago lol.

[Andrew Steffens]

I do not know the market very well in Gatlinburg, but from a pure investment perspective (assuming revenue is gross) is abysmal. This property will lose money for anyone not paying cash, and if they are paying cash they will make a very low ROI. The gross yield is only 7-8%, I target 12%-16% here in FL and find it often.

[Leora Merrell]

You will not get $715k. I’m sorry. We just sold one of our 2/2’s with a higher gross than yours for $515k. 

[Cole Harris]

Looks like we should be fine.  A 2bedroom/2bath a few doors down just sold for $750k this week and just popped up on my feed.  With it being in a planned neighborhood, all the cabins design wise are the same, but ours has even better views.  We did hit $70k in year's past, just had a down year due to a crappy cleaner earlier in the year.  

[Mike H.]

@Cole Harris
Keep in mind that square footage has a lot to do with pricing as much as bedroom count and/or revenue.  A two bedroom 1,300 sq ft cabin is going to go for way less than a 2 bed, 2,400 sq ft cabin.

One of the issues out there too is that some are setup as legal 2 bedroom cabins because of the septic but then they have lofts and such that allow you to rent them out as 3 or even four bedroom cabins to improve the rent.

You mentioned one nearby you with a similar layout. I see two that sold there in last 6 months - one was a 2 bed, 2,500 sq ft cabin that sold for 885k last week. And another 2 bed, 1750 sq ft cabin that sold for 775k in october.  So your number of 715k may not be too far off depending on the square footage and also the age of the cabin.

For anybody to suggest otherwise without knowing more information on your specific cabin isn't giving you the best advice to be honest.  However, your revenue is really low. But is that your actual revenue? 50k to 60k gross rental income? Thats really low for that area and for that price.  Could that possibly be your net income after fees and such? How often do you use it personally or let friends/relatives stay? 

Be careful when you start thinking other sales will equate to the same numbers for your property.  Cabin rentals out there are not like houses for primary residences. Sales prices on previous built cabins are going to be driven a lot by revenue. Now some other investors may believe they can boost your revenue quite a bit but they don't want to pay for that projected boost.  They want to pay based on what you're actually making.

But I also believe that the square footage of the cabin plays a big part too. Does it have a pool? I'm guessing not or your revenue should be significantly greater. 

Still, its a great subdivision and there are a lot of investors that know what kind of revenue those cabins should be generating.  But your pricing is going to be hurt by your income.  Based on income alone, I could buy a 30k lot in sky harbor and build a 2 bedroom 1,400 sq ft cabin that generates 50k to 60k in rental income all day long (if not closer to 55k to 65k).   And nobody is paying more than 550k for that cabin even with it being new construction.

Its been a couple of months though so I'm curious to know if you were able to sell it or not and if so at what price.   But based on that area and depending on the size of your cabin, you may not be as far off on your price as people here think - even with your lower revenue numbers (assuming you didn't accidentally give us net instead of gross revenue). 

A lot more comes down to price per square foot than people outside that area understand. 

[Collin Hays]

Quote from @Mike H.:

@Cole Harris
Keep in mind that square footage has a lot to do with pricing as much as bedroom count and/or revenue.  A two bedroom 1,300 sq ft cabin is going to go for way less than a 2 bed, 2,400 sq ft cabin.

One of the issues out there too is that some are setup as legal 2 bedroom cabins because of the septic but then they have lofts and such that allow you to rent them out as 3 or even four bedroom cabins to improve the rent.

You mentioned one nearby you with a similar layout. I see two that sold there in last 6 months - one was a 2 bed, 2,500 sq ft cabin that sold for 885k last week. And another 2 bed, 1750 sq ft cabin that sold for 775k in october.  So your number of 715k may not be too far off depending on the square footage and also the age of the cabin.

For anybody to suggest otherwise without knowing more information on your specific cabin isn't giving you the best advice to be honest.  However, your revenue is really low. But is that your actual revenue? 50k to 60k gross rental income? Thats really low for that area and for that price.  Could that possibly be your net income after fees and such? How often do you use it personally or let friends/relatives stay? 

Be careful when you start thinking other sales will equate to the same numbers for your property.  Cabin rentals out there are not like houses for primary residences. Sales prices on previous built cabins are going to be driven a lot by revenue. Now some other investors may believe they can boost your revenue quite a bit but they don't want to pay for that projected boost.  They want to pay based on what you're actually making.

But I also believe that the square footage of the cabin plays a big part too. Does it have a pool? I'm guessing not or your revenue should be significantly greater. 

Still, its a great subdivision and there are a lot of investors that know what kind of revenue those cabins should be generating.  But your pricing is going to be hurt by your income.  Based on income alone, I could buy a 30k lot in sky harbor and build a 2 bedroom 1,400 sq ft cabin that generates 50k to 60k in rental income all day long (if not closer to 55k to 65k).   And nobody is paying more than 550k for that cabin even with it being new construction.

Its been a couple of months though so I'm curious to know if you were able to sell it or not and if so at what price.   But based on that area and depending on the size of your cabin, you may not be as far off on your price as people here think - even with your lower revenue numbers (assuming you didn't accidentally give us net instead of gross revenue). 

A lot more comes down to price per square foot than people outside that area understand. 

I'll have to disagree on that. I've been investing in and around Gatlinburg for 20 years, and the sales price is way more about yield than square footage. I have a friend who bought two very small houses - 500 square feet each - for $1 million just two years ago.  They are right on the Roaring Fork River. You aren't touching anything on the Roaring Fork for almost any price, no matter the square footage.

Location is king, because location equals desirability, and desirability translates into more rental demand, and in some cases, substantially more.  

[Collin Hays]

Quote from @Luke Carl:

Your income is also low. If that were my property (again having not seen it) I would be able to get 80k out of it. 

You haven't seen it, but you know automatically that that you can increase the rent by $25K a year?   

Luke, my man.