6 Unit STR in the Smokies

[Abe DeHart]

I have a 6 unit property under contract in the Smokies, 0.5 miles from the parkway in Pigeon Forge. Units are connected under one roof but there is no pass through from one unit to another. Each unit is a 3/3 1,200 SQFT with a 1bed/1bath suite on each of the 3 floors. It is currently a LTR with 6 tenants. It's zoned for STR, and my wife and I plan to put some capital in and get it to be a rental. A few questions for the group:

Style: The property is relatively new (<20 years old), but has no cabin style at all. Do we invest money to put cabin siding on, some tongue and groove on a few interior walls etc? Or can we keep it as just a clean non-cabin rental with a few bear lamps, rustic furniture, the standard arcade and air hockey, etc.> Any sense at how much rents would decrease if we don't "cabinify" the units?

Unit structure: How do we set this up so that a single party could rent it as an 18/18? or 2 9/9s, or 3 6/6s? Is this possible? We are new to STR, but I'm thinking that renting an 18/18 for a week to a large group could generate a lot of cashflow. Practically can you do this with AirBnb, VRBO?

Pricing/Unit quality: Should we keep a couple with the standard appliances and laminate countertop and then have a few others with granite, all stainless appliances, hot tubs, etc? Cater to a broader swath of the renters that visit, or just make them all "A class"?

What should we be thinking about that I might have missed?

Thanks!!

[Mark Miles]

Originally posted by @Abe DeHart:

I have a 6 unit property under contract in the Smokies, 0.5 miles from the parkway in Pigeon Forge. Units are connected under one roof but there is no pass through from one unit to another. Each unit is a 3/3 1,200 SQFT with a 1bed/1bath suite on each of the 3 floors. It is currently a LTR with 6 tenants. It's zoned for STR, and my wife and I plan to put some capital in and get it to be a rental. A few questions for the group:

Style: The property is relatively new (<20 years old), but has no cabin style at all. Do we invest money to put cabin siding on, some tongue and groove on a few interior walls etc? Or can we keep it as just a clean non-cabin rental with a few bear lamps, rustic furniture, the standard arcade and air hockey, etc.> Any sense at how much rents would decrease if we don't "cabinify" the units?

Unit structure: How do we set this up so that a single party could rent it as an 18/18? or 2 9/9s, or 3 6/6s? Is this possible? We are new to STR, but I'm thinking that renting an 18/18 for a week to a large group could generate a lot of cashflow. Practically can you do this with AirBnb, VRBO?

Pricing/Unit quality: Should we keep a couple with the standard appliances and laminate countertop and then have a few others with granite, all stainless appliances, hot tubs, etc? Cater to a broader swath of the renters that visit, or just make them all "A class"?

What should we be thinking about that I might have missed?

Thanks!!

 Congrats, sounds awesome!! Here’s something I learned on my own: try renting it the way that it currently is, and if you’re having trouble renting it for the rates that you want, only then make changes

I once bought a STR house and thought I was going to make a bunch of changes, but I listed it as it was just to get some money flowing, and the money was so good that I never made any changes

If you do decide to make any updates, update only one unit at a time so you still get cash flow from the other units. Then you will be able to compare your before and after rental rates on that one unit to see if it was worth it. A true A-B test!

Finally, the great thing about Airbnb is you can have a bunch of different listings for the same place. You can list each unit separately, you can have a separate listing that combines two of them, a separate listing that combines three of them, a separate listing that combines six of them. Create a bunch of different listings all with different rental rates and see what works best for your profitability.