Smokey Mountains current situation on the ground

[Ryan Proffit]

Hello, I have been following and searching threads on the Smokey Mountains. I am going to have some funds available soon, and am very interested in this area. I am just looking to get an update on expected gross income vs purchase price/bedroom. I fully plan to self manage, and have been taking a lot of notes from the forum. I am hoping to be able to buy 2 within the next 1.5 years hopefully. Hopefully the big fish from this area will chime in with some excellent intel as usual. I always vote for sage advice. Thanks in advance.

Ryan

[Julie McCoy]

Hey @Ryan Proffit!  Glad to share what I know.  The charts @Lauren Kormylo linked are really where I point people to, those have more thorough information than the broad strokes I'm about to give.  My rules of thumb - that is, conservative, middle-of-the-road estimates on gross annual income - are as follows: 0-1BR $35k/yr, 2BR $45k/yr, 3BR $55k/yr, 4BR $70k/yr, 5BR $85k/yr  

That's readily achievable for a middle-of-the-road cabin within 15-20 minutes of either downtown Pigeon Forge or downtown Gatlinburg if you're a competent manager.  

As for correlating with purchase price, while of course there's a general correlation of higher price = nicer property = higher rent potential, it's not necessarily going to scale proportionately. You can mismanage a nice cabin and do poorly, or be an awesome manager of an average cabin and do really well (though I think we all want to be awesome managers of awesome cabins and KILL IT!!!).  

Performance comes down to management in so many ways - which means I can't predict how you'll do as a manager, but the awesome thing is it means you control your own destiny!  (This does not mean you have to have handmade gift baskets for every guest; it mostly means being prompt and clear with your communication, responsive to any issues, and providing a clean, comfortable place to stay that is accurately reflected in your listing)

So, while I know we all want plug-and-play numbers, there's too many variables for something like that to be effective; this is what I have to offer. :)