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New investor from Alabama
Hello Bigger Pockets Community. My name is Matt Smith and I'm from Pell City, AL. I am very new to real estate investing but am ready to jump in and get started. I have a full time job working in the Auto Industry and make pretty decent money. My immediate goal from investing is to gain long term wealth through passive income. As I gain knowledge, begin investing and hopefully have success, my goals may change (possibly go full time investing and retire from my job in 10 years).
With all that said, I'd like to discuss a few areas of investing that I'm interested in. I am not (at least now) interested in flipping although it could be an option in the future. What intrigues me the most after reading tons of posts, listening to Podcasts, etc.. is multifamily units. The concern I have with this is that there doesn't seem to be alot available in my area. If there are any investors in my area that have had success with multifamily, I'd like to discuss if possible. Please let me know.
The other area that really has my interest is vacation rentals. I've been investigating these for quite some time now. My initial review was on the Gulf Coast (beach condos) and in the Tennessee mountains (Gatlinburg/ Pigeon Forge). After a bit of looking, the beach condos do not seem to be a good area to try and get cash flow. If there are any BP members that are having success, I'd certainly like to hear your stories and possibly discuss 1 on 1. The mountain cabin rental in Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge seems to be a bit more promising. This area seems to be busy almost year round where the beach only seems to be busy during the summer. We actually go to Gatlinburg every year at Christmas time and I know exactly how busy it is at that time of the year. So, as with the other areas I've mentioned, if there are any members having success here, please let me know.
Thanks for any replies with information on the areas I've mentioned above.
Welcome
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Welcome to BP. I am also new and have been considering Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge as well. I am interested to see the responses.
Thanks @David D'Errico. I have set up several keyword alerts for my interests now and hope to get a lot of good information from them. I have also read the Ultimate Beginners Guide. It was a very good introduction to REI. I am excited about everything I learned.
@Steve B., I'm glad to hear that there are other people interested in the Gatlinburg/ Pigeon Forge area. Hopefully, as you mentioned, we can get some good responses from investors that have had success there. I am definitely interested in hearing what areas are hot for rentals, what the typical vacancy rates are, what the normal rents are for 1BR/1BA, 2BR/2BA, etc...
I am also looking into investing into Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Sevierville cabins too.
I feel like Gatlinburg is making a comeback. It seems in recent years PF and Sevierville have become more popular but Gatlinburg's setting is second to none and I see it as a good long term investment. I lived there 30 years ago and PF was a dump and Sevierville was just for locals back then. That changed over the years of course. I have not been back in a couple years but last time I was there they were talking about a big condo/waterslide development at the entrance to Gatlinburg. Not sure if that ever took off!?
@Matt Smith Welcome to BiggerPockets!!! The website is amazing and the information is so valuable. If you have any questions about multifamily let me know, would love to help anyway possible. I love multifamily properties and think they are the key to build wealth and cash flow
Welcome.
Your probably right on the condos of the Gulf Coast. I have owned a few over the years, and was involved in the late 80's and 90's when there was a lot of money to be made. (Mostly if you were a developer. But from an individual investment standpoint, especially if you are financing a property, cash flow can be a challenge. HOA fees and maintenance costs have to be paid. And more than one investor has been literally shocked by "special assessments" that they had no clue could be levied. That doesn't mean you cant make good money with beach properties, but many new investors only see what they pay for a week rental, multiply by 50 and get excited. It's not really that easy.
brad
John P. Yes they built a big West Gate Resort in Gatlinburg that has a water park. The entire area has grown tremendously since I moved to Knoxville 10 years ago. We call it "Myrtle Beach in the mtns" lol
Thanks for the reply @John P. You are exactly right, Pigeon Forge used to be nothing but it has really become a tourist attraction over the last 10 to 15 years. There's actually alot more to do there now than there is in Gatlinburg. There is Dollywood, The Island, several campgrounds, anything you want to eat, many hotels, etc... But, as you mentioned, there's nothing like Gatlinburg for the setting.
@Christopher Hartwell, the Westgate Resort is awesome. That's where we go each year at Christmas time. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of cabins there now along with many pools, a miniature golf course at the top of the mountain and the water park (that my kids absolutely love). I love staying there and it is packed every time we go no matter what time of the year. This is what makes me believe that a vacation rental in this area would be very successful.
Hi @John Cohen, thanks for your reply. I agree that this site is absolutely amazing. I have learned so much over the last several months. Thanks for offering your input on multifamily. As I mentioned in my initial post, I am interested in this area the most and would really like to get started here. There are so many questions I still need to get answered. Not sure what your market is like but where I am and within about 20 miles of me, there are very few multifamily units that I've found and none on the market at this time. If I expand to Birmingham which is about 40-50 miles away, it opens up alot more opportunities. I really need to start to understand my options for financing when I'm ready to pull the trigger on a multifamily property and obviously how to find the units. I'd love to pick your brain about this soon.
@Brad Sanford, thanks for your reply. I think you confirmed my fears about a beach condo. It's probably going to be a big challenge to find a unit at the right price and then be able to cash flow with it considering all of the extras like HOA, maintenance, PM and any other expenses that might pop up. I think that once I get established and am comfortable with the ability to find deals and cash flow on the properties that should cash flow, I might attempt to get a unit on the beach (my wife would love it).