Smokies Advice- Age & BRs

[Karen Lomison]

Hi BP!  First time poster, couple month lurker ;)

Looking for advice for buying a STR in the Smokies. My sister bought 2 cabins recently from @AveryCarl and I think I've finally convinced my husband to get in on the action!

At this point in life, we are not interested in taking on self managing.  I know that's the way to make the most and some of you are rockstars at it, I just don't think I can swing it right now.  Through researching here I'm leaning toward one of the smaller PMs, but have not done a ton of research in that area.

My questions are around age and size... 

1)Is there any way a new construction would make sense? From what I see on MLS i'll pay maybe $100k more for a new 1br vs an old one... can you charge higher rent for new in this market, or do people not care? Presumably there would be fewer repairs for new consruction... could that make the numbers work out? Obviously the newer ones are pretty to look at but I'm wondering if the numbers would ever work

2) I have read that there is a niche for all numbers of 'bedrooms' (sleeping spaces)... if i had enough money to buy a couple small cabins or 1 bigger cabin, any recommendations?  It seems like multiple cabins would be more difficult than 1 big one, but then the big one would likely be more unpredictable, more seasonal, more likely to get trashed by big parties, etc.  And if im paying for PM, maybe it doesn't matter to me?  Will I pay a higher % PM on different size cabins or does that all work itself out in the price?

Thanks for reading :)

[Julie McCoy]

@Karen Lomison Very exciting time for you!  I started off with small 1BR cabins, even though @Avery Carl advised me to go bigger, and just like @Justin Anderson suggested in his post, Avery was right re: go big if you can. While my 1BR cabins do great and cash flow very well and are consistently booked year-round, I now have 4 small ones and I've replaced 3 HVACs, 2 roofs, one well... you get the idea (they are all a bit older). I also have one brand new 3BR that I closed on in June, too early to do ROI analysis but I'm confident it's going to be better.

I do not regret my small purchases at all (eh, the one with the well issue I have a little regret about, LOL!) but were I to do it again knowing what I know, I'd definitely make a play for fewer big cabins vs. many smaller ones.

The other thing is - so many people feel more comfortable starting with small cabins, they are REALLY competitive to buy!  Multiple offers/selling for over asking is very common.  While that's still a possibility with a larger cabin, it's not quite as common.