Honest Gatlinburg STR expectations

[Lauren C.]

Like many of you, I've made the decision to purchase a cabin for STR in Gatlinburg, approx. 500K in value. (I can actually afford two, if it works out, and possibly a third if I use a HELOC on my primary residence.) I'm sure my questions will be of interest to a number of people, and I'm looking for straight-shooters here....

Assuming I self-manage (I no longer work my W2 job and these are my first REI purchases), and assuming I have 20% DP (or would it be 25%, realistically?), what am I looking at for cash-on-cash return? I would be doing everything remotely, and these are sight-unseen purchases (and I doubt I'll ever see them because I live in NY). There will be growing pains on the self-management, but, once I work out my systems, what can I expect? I suppose the other way I can ask this: What is the gross/net profit on a 500K home in Gatlinburg, self-managed?

I'm extremely fortunate to be in this position, and I don't take it for granted. I am not someone who does not see this as a "job", or "hard work", or any of those things. This is basically going to be my new job, at least until I have enough cash/equity to take it all and put it in more passive investments down the line (I'm 33.)

Thanks to all. Finding deals there will be tricky, but worth it, it seems.

[Justin Anderson]

As a mentor of mine told me if I'm going to go, go big... So my first cabin is/was a 7 BR that just KILLS IT.  If you can go bigger, go bigger.  Smaller cabins have bidding wars which is no fun to go up against, but they're also way less worry.  My 1BR cabins never get trashed but my big ones definitely have their share of parties.

But even with the price run up lately, these guys can still cash flow.  As an example, two of my 1BRs have averaged 6,500/month gross in Q4.  My nice 7BR will average 20k/m in Q4.  Of course Q4 is the best, but that just shows what's possible.

As Avery said, a 4BR will probably average around 100k gross, depending on amenities/location/etc.  I manage a brand new NICE one that will gross only about 20% less than a plain 8BR.  I'm hoping it'll hit 130-135k this coming year.