STR Cabins in Sevier Co

[Account Closed]

Hello everyone,

I have been reading these posts for a while and wanted to introduce myself. I'm in Knoxville, TN and wanting to get into the STR world in the Smoky Mountain area. My husband and I actually put an offer in on a cabin a couple of years ago and the contract fell through so we decided to continue investing in LTR instead. I kick myself sometimes for not pursuing more STRs after that, but the cabin we were supposed to buy perished in the fire only 9 months later so we were shielded in a sense I guess.

Now, we are determined again, but trying to determine if there is still money to be made given the inflated prices we are seeing. We would definitely self manage as we are computer savvy and have managed our long term rentals for the last decade and it doesn’t hurt that we are locals.

I’ve already setup a time to discuss with Avery Lucas in a few weeks, but wanting to get opinions on whether the prices right now to buy are just too high to make sense on buying. We are ready and have the funds to invest in something so just trying to figure out where our money is best spent.

Thanks so much ~ Heather

[Julie McCoy]

Hey @Heather Cline ! That's quite a story - as you said, maybe the fact that you didn't buy previously has protected you from something worse than losing a little cash flow!

Regarding the prices, my opinion is as long as you're happy with the return, that's what matters. Purchase price obviously has an impact on your cash flow, but price fluctuation happens in every market and the best time to buy is just about always yesterday/last month/last year. The questions that remain are: Are the returns still satisfactory to me? and: Is there another market that makes more sense?

Only you can answer the first question, but as for the second question I have to say if there's a better market for STR - even now - I don't know what it is.

So don't worry too much about what prices were in the past - look at your future and decide if you want to make the cash flow that's still available. :)