Eastern Tennessee STR/MTR

[Allie William Wilson]

Hello there,

My husband and I are investors with a few LTRs in the Midwest. I am from North Carolina originally and looking to buy our next property in eastern Tennessee. We have been in touch with a few investor realtors in the Knoxville area, which seems to be largely discovered now. The Sevierville/Pigeon Forge/Gatlingburg area seems very overblown these days, so I'm not keen on the region. We want a slightly less discovered region. I'm more a fan of Boone rather than Asheville (in NC speak) - the smaller, more authentic mountain experience rather than the touristy mountain regions. Roan Mountain and Watagua Lake are also favorites. Thus, we are looking into the Johnson City-Elizabethton area or the Kingsport-Bristol area. We are leaning more toward Johnson City just due to location, size, and economy/industries that are there. This next investment for us will be our first venture into STRs (or even a MTR). We travel for work (healthcare) and chronically live out of MTRs, so it will be our first time operating a shorter term, but won't be an entirely foreign situation to us. This STR would also be a place for us to block dates off for ourselves between work contracts (if we want to), which adds a slightly more personal investment in this one.

My question is this - does Johnson City receive enough visitation to justify a successful STR? I know the university, the med school, and the hospital are there, so surely an MTR would work well. Though what about STR? Does anyone know stats on this or have personal experience in this region? We would love and welcome any feedback! Thank you.

[JD Martin]

Quote from @Allie William Wilson:

Hello there,

My husband and I are investors with a few LTRs in the Midwest. I am from North Carolina originally and looking to buy our next property in eastern Tennessee. We have been in touch with a few investor realtors in the Knoxville area, which seems to be largely discovered now. The Sevierville/Pigeon Forge/Gatlingburg area seems very overblown these days, so I'm not keen on the region. We want a slightly less discovered region. I'm more a fan of Boone rather than Asheville (in NC speak) - the smaller, more authentic mountain experience rather than the touristy mountain regions. Roan Mountain and Watagua Lake are also favorites. Thus, we are looking into the Johnson City-Elizabethton area or the Kingsport-Bristol area. We are leaning more toward Johnson City just due to location, size, and economy/industries that are there. This next investment for us will be our first venture into STRs (or even a MTR). We travel for work (healthcare) and chronically live out of MTRs, so it will be our first time operating a shorter term, but won't be an entirely foreign situation to us. This STR would also be a place for us to block dates off for ourselves between work contracts (if we want to), which adds a slightly more personal investment in this one.

My question is this - does Johnson City receive enough visitation to justify a successful STR? I know the university, the med school, and the hospital are there, so surely an MTR would work well. Though what about STR? Does anyone know stats on this or have personal experience in this region? We would love and welcome any feedback! Thank you.

I live here and the answer is no. We do get people coming through for ETSU and Milligan graduations, temporary stays for the VA, and some tourism in the summer and fall but you're not going to stay heavily booked.

I have lived here for over 30 years and am a licensed broker here, as well as having all of my rentals here in town, and would consider myself an expert on this market.

Don't listen to anyone lumping JC in with Watauga Lake or Roan Mountain. It's 40+ minutes from either one to JC and people who stay out at the lake are a different group than would stay in JC for events there.