All Forum Posts by: Avery Carl

Your agent should have been able to get this information for you, but it's pretty basic:

1. Call the electric company and ask what the process is for changing it to your name

2. Decide on your cable/internet company, (have your agent ask if the seller can transfer the current service if it's one you like), if they won't transfer, call your favorite provider and ask if they service that address and set it up

3. The title company should be able to track down the HOA contact and get you hooked up with them, or the agent for the seller should be able to get it from the seller as well

4. If you are in Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg, which I suspect you are, you're probably on a well and a septic system so no company to call there to switch service, although I do recommend getting the septic pumped immediately upon closing

5. If, as I suspect, you are in Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg, get it off the local PM immediately :)  You'll cash flow a SIGNIFICANTLY higher amount without them

Hey William!  The rentals were initially affected for just a few months by the fires (which were almost 2 years ago at this point), but not anymore.  What it actually did was drive down supply and drive up demand for cabin rentals.  I have sold several cabins in that area in the past few months and rental business (and in turn purchase prices) are booming.  Prices are steadily increasing, and the good properties are going for over asking price/multiple offers within a few days BECAUSE of the high rental income cashflow (assuming you don't put the rentals with a crappy PM).  If you've got land there you can build on I would say knock yourself out!  Go make that money!

I would either just replace the felt on the pool table (cheapest option), or I'd go with the media room.  Even if the upstairs living room has ample seating and a large tv. Most of the vacations in a rental this size in this market are going to have a bunch of kids and the adults will want to have a separate living area.  Kids can be downstairs watching movies, adults can be upstairs watching ball games etc.  Media rooms have become a big selling point in this market.

I'd steer clear of the gym stuff.  That's just asking for more headaches in my opinion.  A. someone's kid drops a heavy weight and breaks their foot and you're on the hook for it or B. (more likely option) you're just putting more things in the house for guests to break and then complain about being broken.  Not worth the headache.

$260k duplex in suburb of Dayton, OH.  Each side has a split-level floor plan with 1600 sq. ft. 3 bedrooms and 3 full baths in excellent condition, on 1.5 acre lot.  Current rent is under market value, so could be increased.  Both sides currently occupied.  

More details and contact info can be found here:

https://beavercreekduplex.com/

@Luke Carl and I have 5 very successful VR's, and I sell real estate in a mainly VR market.  Aside from the legality of renting a property that you don't own for Airbnb purposes, most lenders will not count income made off Airbnb/VRBO properties that you don't own for future financing.  I have had several clients who Airbnb their New York City apartments (that they rent) who have financed properties in my VR market.  Each one has been told by their lender that unless they own the property, that unfortunately their short-term rental income cannot be counted.  @Parker Borofsky can elaborate more on this than I can.  So while you may be able to cash-flow depending on your market, just keep in mind that you may not be able to use that income to scale in the future.  I'm certainly not trying to dissuade you from getting into the VR market, it has brought us fantastic cash flow, I just don't want you to be unpleasantly surprised down the road.  Good luck!

Calling the county office is always a good idea.  @Tim Schroeder didn't you do this recently before we got under contract on yours?  Did you find any useful information?

One thing to keep in mind when calling county offices and/or utility companies in East Tennessee...they move VERY slowly.  So keep calling until you get your answers.

Hi Kennith!  I own 5 cabins in PF/Gatlinburg.  The market is definitely on its way up.  Since most of the homes are vacation rentals and few people actually live there, the prices are still far far below what they were pre-crash.

I also second what @Jeff Piscioniere said.  It is very difficult to cash flow if you place it with one of the local PMs, they charge 30-40% of your gross rentals.  I have bought cabins from several owners who were actually LOSING money with the PM's.  My husband @Luke Carl manages all 5 of ours from his iphone using the VRBO and Airbnb apps, and he has a 9-5 gig.  

@Share Ross

@Tyler Work I live in Nashville, which is one of the major Airbnb crackdown cities.  I have a long term here, but all my short terms are in the Smoky Mountains, a market where the local economy has depended on vacation rentals for decades, long before the dawn of Airbnb.  So if you are ok with investing in short term outside of the area that you live, there are numerous vacation rental areas similar to mine throughout the country that present significant opportunities for short term rental investments with little fear of the Airbnb crackdown.

To paraphrase what @Luke Carl said, we have gotten all of our best people on referrals from people who do work for us in other capacities, and have had zero luck with finding people online.  And if you are brand new, if you can get another host in the area to give you even one name, you can start building your network out from there, even if that person doesn't work out.