All Forum Posts by: Julie McCoy

 So based on your post, it sounds like there's no red flags with this particular well, just somebody saying that other wells have had problems in the area.  Is that correct?

As Luke said, wells come with their own set of risks, nobody's going to tell you a particular well will never have a problem.  That said, the overwhelming majority of properties in the Smokies are on private wells, and a vast majority of those are not having water production issues.  If you are concerned, have a well professional come test the production level of that well. 

Even if you do have to have water delivered, it's stressful but hardly the end of the world... there's services locally that will do a same-day water delivery, it costs a few hundred bucks.  I've done it twice, over 5 years with 7 cabins on wells.  Just the cost of doing business.

Re: septic, there are lots of properties in the Smokies that have more functional bedrooms than the septic capacity says.  I own two and I've never thought twice about it.  You probably don't want 20 people using that septic system every night, but you probably don't want that many people anyway for plenty of other reasons.  If you're concerned about it, I'd recommend calling a septic company or three and asking them if they see very many issues with this sort of thing.  

I have a General Admission ticket to Ryan Pineda's live event in Las Vegas NEXT WEEK - my plans changed and I can't make it!  Would love for someone to benefit from the knowledge available there - I bought with Early Bird pricing of $500 so glad to pass that on to you (current pricing is $1000).  Confirmed transferrable with the event organizers.

WHAT: Future Flipper X Tykes Summit Live Event
WHEN: January 11-12 
WHERE: The Mirage - Las Vegas, NV
COST: $500 (current pricing is $1000 for this ticket!)

PM me to claim it!  Thank you!

@Amber Krueger You've gotten a lot of excellent opinions and advice in this thread.  I'm just going to talk about my experience... I'm closing on my 7th cabin in the Smokies today, and it's my biggest purchase yet.  I'm still a firm believer in this market!

There's been a lot of discussion about things trending down here lately... well, year over year my portfolio is down about 4% YTD from 2021, but I always knew 2021 would be an outlier, so I'm quite pleased with performance overall.  The properties I've added in the last 12 months (three of them) are performing well.  I began investing here in 2017.

Historically, while property values did dive significantly during the 2008 recession (which was pre-self management of vacation rentals and locally most cabins were second homes and/or had management fees around 40%) - but tourism in the area saw a very small decline over that same time period.  The way vacation rentals are valued locally has changed dramatically since then; now the values are much more tied to revenue potential and without a dramatic decline in revenues, it seems unlikely values will fall in such a precipitous way.  

Hundreds of millions of dollars are being actively spent on commercial development here - two of the most high profile projects are the Cherokee Nation's attraction development and the biggest Buc-ee's in the nation, both located at exit 407 off I-40, the main access point to the region.  That indicates a high level of confidence by those organizations in the area's continued tourism economy.  (btw... for everybody talking about big cabins sitting empty right now... YEAH.  School just came back and Labor Day is around the corner.  Large groups don't typically travel right this minute, especially on Monday/Tuesday!)

All that said - it IS an expensive market. It may not be the right choice for everyone. Given that it appears to be near peak for this time period, I would recommend that anybody looking to invest here have the reserves and nerve to weather some fluctuation in the near term. Buy smart - fortunately right now buyers have more negotiating power than they have in the last several years. Don't overleverage yourself. If you're concerned that you'll be in trouble if rents don't cover expenses during the upcoming slow months of January/February, that's a good indication you're stretching yourself too much. This is true in any market - and any STR market is going to have seasonality with some months less profitable than others.

Definitely come, check it out, and enjoy your time here - and hopefully all this will help you decide if the Smokies are the right market for you right now, or potentially in the future.  As @Avery Carl said, there's lots of other great markets as well that you may feel more comfortable with at the moment!

@Tyler Hallman Read more current threads on this board, plenty more about my story already on the forum. This one is ancient.

@Brian G. thank you for the shout out, but @Kevin Koone and @Julie Sisnroy I recommend you start with @Avery Carl, I am on her team and we have a lot of fabulous agents, I'm not taking new clients right now but Avery will make sure to connect you with a fantastic agent who will be a good fit for you!

I haven't had any issues with parties, just more complain-y people than I feel is typical right now.  

That's a great way to get an agent who won't represent you as a buyer and may have no experience with investors. Listing agents represent their sellers, they cannot also represent a buyer offering on their seller's property.  They'll gladly write the offer, but they'll be looking out for their seller. 

Check your zoning and be SURE you can use the property for RVs/camping before you close!  Usually that is tightly regulated, so do as much due diligence as you possibly can to verify the use.

With RVs you should be looking at much less overhead, and while I don't have any data, I would expect the overall returns to be better with RVs than STRs.  But of course you've got a fair bit of infrastructure to establish for RVs before you can start making money, too.

Waynesville is gorgeous!  My family has a cabin in Maggie Valley, love that area.

@Ben Morrow I have a 26BR under contract for a client; we got multiple projections from local property managers, most averaged in the low- to mid-$600s and they lobbied pretty hard to get it on their respective programs.  Time will tell of course (it's a new build so no possibility of rental history), but there is definitely demand for large properties that can host big groups.  

@James Elden Spend some time reading this forum.  Most of us self-manage from afar and it's discussed extensively on this forum.