All Forum Posts by: Matt Mertz

Congrats on starting your journey.

We have a nice cabin that sleeps 16 in Gatlinburg.  Started in 2021.  We're happy with it.

Random advice:

Podcasts are a great resource and easy way to learn.  Get Paid for Your Pad, Thanks for Visiting, Vacation Rental Success are all good.  Plenty more out there.

The Smokies market is getting saturated so you need to stand out.

I know people with 1-2 bedroom condos.  Those are not doing good right now.

Basically do what you're doing now.  Reach out, learn more about STRs before jumping in.  Sentiment seems to be cooling on the investment worthiness of STRs, but maybe there's opportunity hidden in there because of that.

I would highly recommend you stick with your provider's modem.  If it goes down (lightning strike) they can replace it.  If you have your own gear, they can't.  I learned this the hard way.

Your wifi APs can be whatever you like.  I use Ubiquiti's from StayFi.

One of the first things you should do is to check the HOA rules to see if they allow STRs.

I started with Hospitable then moved to OwnerRez.  Both are great.

Hospitable is great for a part time host.  Nice user interface, simple to set up, free door lock automation.

We migrated to OwnerRez because we wanted a direct booking site and security deposits.  The unified inbox is clunky compared to Hospitable, and the UI is behind the times, but it has the features we want.  Still using it and very happy.

Just wanted to chime in real quick because we considered investing in that area a few years ago.

Today I look at the existing cabins, and a lot of them look fantastic.  The bar is set high if you want to stand out in that market.

We live near Austin TX and considered going there a few times (family of 3).  But we never did because there doesn't seem like there's much to do in the area.

Good luck on your investing journey!

We're in the process of building a small cabin and Minoan has been landing in my email a lot lately.  It's time to take another look at them.

Does anyone have any real-world experience with the affiliation/commission side of it?  I love the concept but not sure if it's worth partnering with them or doing it yourself and keeping all the commission.

Sure, but our experience may not be super useful.  It's about $415/sqft.  That doesn't include the land cost.  Our cost is affected by topography of the lot and we're building a small one bedroom.  The tradesmen charge a minimum regardless of sqft of the house which drives up our cost.  But we're building small to keep the overall cost down.

@Michael J Shetler It was a combination but mainly the build cost.  Our lot has some slope to it which increases foundation costs and we were under a mistaken impression on sq ft cost when we started, so we designed something bigger than we needed.

I will say costs have come down since then and we are moving forward.  However, we basically redrew the floorplan ourselves, drastically reduced the sq ft of the house and got a local architect to create the plan to make it work with our numbers.

I have some feedback because we actually have some experience as guests on all 3 markets.

1. Broken Bow - I remember this market had a lot of attention a couple years back because it was a relatively cheap market.  We were considering this or the Smokies.  We've tried to go here a couple times already but got turned off by the fact that there's nothing to do there as a family.  From Austin, it's too far for a spontaneous getaway.  The cabins in the area are new and amazing.  But as an investor I see that as a high level of competition in a market that doesn't have enough draw for families (mine, at least).

2. We had family in Houston so we're familiar with Lake Conroe.  Nice lake.  We stayed at the Margaritaville resort there and want to go back.  To us, the draw is the resort and their water park.  But it is a nice area.

3. Hot Springs feels niche but we enjoy it.  Our first time through we stayed at a small lake house on Hot Springs Village (the owner was renting out the basement).  A couple of months ago we stayed at a cabin just outside of Hot Springs that was surprisingly nice and within driving distance of the town (we were only passing through).

Personally of these three, Broken Bow would rank last but that's only based on a feeling.  I haven't run any numbers.

Furnished Finder is pretty clunky.  But it works if you're careful about the various settings (especially the calendar).

We've placed 2 tenants this year since we've started using it and our house has been fully booked for 2024 so far.  

I see a ton of leads for smaller 1-2 bedroom stays.  Our home sleeps 4 so it's bigger than most of the leads are looking for.

My gripe is that I had bigger expectations for the MTR market.  Maybe I bought into the hype or I don't know what I'm doing.  But getting the house rented has been a nail biter.  We get an inquiry like 2 days before it's vacant.  There's a lot of uncertainty.  We've considered putting it on Airbnb for 1 week minimum stays or just going LTR.  But so far it's working as an MTR.