Some type of renovation will likely be required to generate any cash flow in that area, but to be honest; it might still be slim unless it's a heavy renovation.That area is like anything along the NW blue line corridor...great for house hacking, but really tough to make the numbers work on a straight investment deal.You might be better off trying to find something off-market if you are locked into finding a deal in that area.

Once in a blue moon you can find a unicorn on MLS, but that's not how investor can scale their business.

Hey Jordan, We own Blue Ridge Escapes which own and manages several short term rentals around Claytor Lake and the Blacksburg area. 

As mentioned in the original comment, I believe many of these properties will shift back to long-term rentals or single-family homes.In North Georgia, where I’m located, we’ve seen significant changes in our two most popular STR markets—Fannin (Blue Ridge) and Gilmer (Ellijay) counties—with nearly 1,000 active listings, a 42% increase from 2023.

The blue USB stick we give if someone is coming to the 3 day is a list of few hundred houses that are either pre foreclosures, probates etc.

No, of course not - many red regions will outperform blue ones over the long-term.

Retirement 15%  Realtor do not have matching contribution or pensions $1101Health Care for 1  (Florida Blue 43 yo Male)  $350 a month

That said, an easy way to think about what a disqualified party can do/not do is this:  You can do white collar work, not blue collar work.  

Rent-by-the-room tenants are more so catered toward working-class/blue-collar or young professionals looking for cheap rent.

I target blue collar areas that are in high demand.