That means that there is now competition between hosts and you have to give people a reason to book your unit over another hosts.

I absolutely agree with manually checking the competitions pricing.

Find one that can be custom to your needs, has flexible pricing, no long-term, high-cost memberships, and excellent customer services to determine how to best market to your leads.If you would like a referral code or more information please let me know :)

Should I go through with taking ownership of the property and try to salvage it for profit or do I refrain from even involving myself in the situation as it may cost more than it's worth to save it?

EDUCATE YOURSELF - yes, it will take time, but will lead to a selection that better meets your expectations & avoids potentially costly surprises!

I would like to enter the landscape of real estate investing, but the area I live in has a barrier to entry with regards to cost.

Cash flow has been hampered by an increase in cost of ownership recently, specifically insurance. 

Insurance cost for weather-related disasters is growing to a major concern in many of the southern markets.

I agree with Collin.The Smokies do have a lot of competition, so you need to have a view, decent location, good to great amenities etc to stand out.We have a 6-bedroom cabin there, but I imagine a 3 to 4 bedroom would be in the sweet spot of not too big or not too small.

Here's a fundamental explanation to get your juices flowing:Assume a house costs $200,000 and rents for $1,500.