Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge are both extremely strong right now , with most people overpaying in the years that you mentioned and simply not KNOWING OR CARING  how to properly run a top notch Air BNB. 

Sometimes the best way to find the right type of mentor is simply growing your network and going about your business. 

Please don't rabbit hole on this comment and ignore the rest of the post. 

We do have a house we rent in the area and simply love it.

To prove payments you could simply show your latest statement to the lender denying you hundreds of thousands of dollars.

REI is simply a place to park your money.

It is simply far too tenant friendly. 

I turn 40 next week and while I originally had a goal to be fully retired from my cubicle at 50...the idea of 10 more years simply hurts to think about it.  

Why not simply put that extra money in reserve savings for a rainy day then?!?

It might be easiest to simply not renew the lease if its a 1 year lease.