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 :)