Asheville Market for STRs

New to Real Estate · North Carolina, USA · Member since 2024 · 13 posts · 5 votes

Hello BP community,

I am a newbie real estate investor and looking to get my first investment property.

I stay about an hour out of Asheville and have been interested in this market for a little while now, while learning and growing my capital.

I was wondering if the Asheville STR market is doing well again since the catastrophic hurricane last year?

Looking to finally pull the trigger and get that first rental this year.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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Derek RobinsonPro Member

Real Estate Coach · Asheville, NC · Member since 2016 · 176 posts · 172 votes

Quote from @Ken Boone:

Quote from @Collin Hays:

Just an hour west of Asheville is the Maggie Valley-Waynesville-Cataloochee area. This is a somewhat less commercialized version of Gatlinburg, and might be worth considering.

I drive through this area all the time. The realtors are pushing Waynesville as if it’s a destination place for people wanting to visit Asheville because it’s only “20 minutes to Asheville” so it’s in the hot bubble for the Asheville market. I don’t see it. I know people visit Maggie Valley but man every time and I mean every time I pass through there it is just dead. No traffic. Stores and restaurants only have a handful of cars in front of them. It doesn’t matter when I go through there. It’s always like that. Been that way for years.

Spot on. Waynesville always seemed like a stretch to me...more like 30 to 45 mins from Asheville if you are talking city center to city center. A good spot for groceries, a nice downtown, and close to some great outdoor recreation...but it's no Asheville and no one wants to drive 40 mins into Asheville everyday. Plus, areas like this are at a discounted price because of the distance. Maggie Valley...I really wanted to see this area thrive, but I've watched it for 12 plus years and it just hangs on. Dead all around, even on nice weekends. Apparently Ghost Town made the town thrive, but since it shut down, things have been dead. People keep hoping for Ghost Town to reopen, but I can't see that ever happening.

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Mike GrudzienPro Member
Lender · Eugene, OR · Member since 2019 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
1y
Research properties well to look for undisclosed damage.
2 Reply
John UnderwoodPro Member
Investor · Greer, SC · Member since 2014 · 13k+ posts · 17k+ votes
1y
I know there is still serious damage up there and people living in tents and campers.
Seems like there are some strict STR rules in Asheville if I remember correctly.
1 Reply
Ken Boone
Investor · Greenville, SC · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
1y
Jump on one of the Asheville STR owner groups and follow along. I haven't looked in the last few weeks, but I have been repeatedly seeing posts about how low bookings have been. I know the realtors are pushing it hard, but that market is expensive and competitive and like John said there are some areas with strict rules. The market will come back no doubt but you have to go all in on a property there for it do good. It's almost as bad as Kissimmee, you have to decorate to the T's and have all the amenities to compete well. I'm sure the top properties are doing good, as top properties seem to always perform, but you really need to understand what you are buying and what it is really capable of producing income wise.
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Scott DeetlefsPro Member
OP
New to Real Estate · North Carolina, USA · Member since 2024 · 13 posts · 5 votes
1y
Thank you very much for the advice. It is really appreciated. Will definitely check out the groups and see what they are saying.
I am also looking on the outskirts of Asheville and surrounding areas. Will have to see if those areas are as strict with the STR rules.
And yes, I definitely see that I would need all the amenities and then some to compete with the other STRs in the area.
What other parts of NC are doing well with STRs?
Thank you all again for all the great advice.
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Derek RobinsonPro Member
Real Estate Coach · Asheville, NC · Member since 2016 · 176 posts · 172 votes
1y
Disclaimer* I don't have any STRs in Asheville currently. But what I'm hearing from the meetups is that things are still incredibly slow since Helene. Also, every month I hear of another handful of quality/long standing restaurants shutting down because they just couldn't wait any longer for the tourism to come back. I haven't directly heard of any hotel vacancy numbers, but I can't imagine they are doing well either...I've been downtown on the weekends and am shocked at how dead it is compared to normal.
Even before Helene, I was hearing a lot of people having issues with their STRs. STRs have always done well here, but during Covid, everyone one rushed to the market to purchase STRs and nightly rates were incredible high and people were making a killing. Then the Covid burst slowed down and things got back to normal and people started struggling because they bought too high and were running their numbers based on an insanely lucrative snapshot in time. A lot of STR operators switched to MTR, but it seems to be more of a pivot to stop the bleeding and not their original plan.
Being the closest as possible to Asheville brings the highest income, but restrictions have made that difficult, even if you could get the numbers to pencil. Some outskirt areas jumped on that band wagon and starting restricting as well. The entire county even started putting rules into place, but I'm not sure where that all landed.
In terms of amenities, yes, you really have to go big here in my opinion. Everyone used to just put a house up and it did well, then you needed hot tubs to compete. Now I'm hearing about saunas and cold plunges. Someone was asking the other day about a contractor to install things like mini golf. I know some guys that do large houses with pools. It's getting really expensive to compete these days.
Not trying to be a bummer, just telling you what I'm seeing.
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Stephanie Walker
Realtor · Charlotte, NC · Member since 2023 · 245 posts · 231 votes
1y
Personally, I'd look elsewhere. STR in Asheville is difficult for all the reasons the others before me have mentioned and requires a ton of capital with high risk, especially for a newer investor. There's still a few areas that can work in NC for STRs but I couldn't say from personal experience. I own and manage 50+ MTRs in the Charlotte and surrounding markets but I won't touch STRs.
2 Reply
V.G JasonPro Member
Investor · Member since 2022 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
1y
Asheville has been dead and my worst performer, by a margin. I am trying to add to it, but my bid is pricing in the misery.
We just came off Helene and the city has not picked up. Like most STRs, I'm not a fan of heavy leverage.
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Collin HaysBusiness Member
Property Manager · Gatlinburg, TN · Member since 2020 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
1y
Just an hour west of Asheville is the Maggie Valley-Waynesville-Cataloochee area. This is a somewhat less commercialized version of Gatlinburg, and might be worth considering.
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- Ken Boone
  Investor · Greenville, SC · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
  1y
  Quote from @Collin Hays:
  
  Just an hour west of Asheville is the Maggie Valley-Waynesville-Cataloochee area. This is a somewhat less commercialized version of Gatlinburg, and might be worth considering.
  I drive through this area all the time. The realtors are pushing Waynesville as if it’s a destination place for people wanting to visit Asheville because it’s only “20 minutes to Asheville” so it’s in the hot bubble for the Asheville market. I don’t see it. I know people visit Maggie Valley but man every time and I mean every time I pass through there it is just dead. No traffic. Stores and restaurants only have a handful of cars in front of them. It doesn’t matter when I go through there. It’s always like that. Been that way for years.
  1 Reply
- Derek RobinsonPro Member
  Real Estate Coach · Asheville, NC · Member since 2016 · 176 posts · 172 votes
  1y
  Quote from @Ken Boone:
  
  Quote from @Collin Hays:
  
  Just an hour west of Asheville is the Maggie Valley-Waynesville-Cataloochee area. This is a somewhat less commercialized version of Gatlinburg, and might be worth considering.
  I drive through this area all the time. The realtors are pushing Waynesville as if it’s a destination place for people wanting to visit Asheville because it’s only “20 minutes to Asheville” so it’s in the hot bubble for the Asheville market. I don’t see it. I know people visit Maggie Valley but man every time and I mean every time I pass through there it is just dead. No traffic. Stores and restaurants only have a handful of cars in front of them. It doesn’t matter when I go through there. It’s always like that. Been that way for years.
  Spot on. Waynesville always seemed like a stretch to me...more like 30 to 45 mins from Asheville if you are talking city center to city center. A good spot for groceries, a nice downtown, and close to some great outdoor recreation...but it's no Asheville and no one wants to drive 40 mins into Asheville everyday. Plus, areas like this are at a discounted price because of the distance. Maggie Valley...I really wanted to see this area thrive, but I've watched it for 12 plus years and it just hangs on. Dead all around, even on nice weekends. Apparently Ghost Town made the town thrive, but since it shut down, things have been dead. People keep hoping for Ghost Town to reopen, but I can't see that ever happening.
  5 Reply
- JD MartinBusiness Member
  Moderator
  Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 17k+ votes
  1y
  Quote from @Derek Robinson:
  
  Quote from @Ken Boone:
  
  Quote from @Collin Hays:
  
  Just an hour west of Asheville is the Maggie Valley-Waynesville-Cataloochee area. This is a somewhat less commercialized version of Gatlinburg, and might be worth considering.
  I drive through this area all the time. The realtors are pushing Waynesville as if it’s a destination place for people wanting to visit Asheville because it’s only “20 minutes to Asheville” so it’s in the hot bubble for the Asheville market. I don’t see it. I know people visit Maggie Valley but man every time and I mean every time I pass through there it is just dead. No traffic. Stores and restaurants only have a handful of cars in front of them. It doesn’t matter when I go through there. It’s always like that. Been that way for years.
  Spot on. Waynesville always seemed like a stretch to me...more like 30 to 45 mins from Asheville if you are talking city center to city center. A good spot for groceries, a nice downtown, and close to some great outdoor recreation...but it's no Asheville and no one wants to drive 40 mins into Asheville everyday. Plus, areas like this are at a discounted price because of the distance. Maggie Valley...I really wanted to see this area thrive, but I've watched it for 12 plus years and it just hangs on. Dead all around, even on nice weekends. Apparently Ghost Town made the town thrive, but since it shut down, things have been dead. People keep hoping for Ghost Town to reopen, but I can't see that ever happening.
  🤣 Ghost Town in the Sky has been closed for more years than I can even remember. We took the kids there when they were younger and that was 30 years ago. It was a neat place but just too far in the middle of nowhere. Waynesville only works for someone that wants to be semi-close to WCU, otherwise it's in the middle of nowhere too. I think a lot of people who are not in/from the mountains have no concept of how far and how tough a drive some of these places are from anywhere anyone would want to be.
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Andrew SteffensBusiness Member
Tampa, FL · Member since 2022 · 4k+ posts · 3k+ votes
1y
Something to consider, is the stigmatization of the area. I am mainly in Tampa metro but I have some rental under management in Naples/Ft Myers. That area performed rather well but has struggled since Ian in 2021. The news showed the destruction over and over and many people moved their destination East to South FL or North to Tampa area. It has never gone back to how it was before the storm.
In 2024 with Helene, Tampa area was hit hard by surge. Luckily for my area the news showed some destruction but shifted its focus to NC where it was much worse. Even today they are still showing the slow recovery. The Tampa market is better this spring than last and my theory is the lack of news coverage, fast recovery and good PR by local chamber of commerce saved the day here. I suspect NC will take years to return to where it was and may never reach pre hurricane tourism numbers.
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JD MartinBusiness Member
Moderator
Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 17k+ votes
1y
I live in the area (I'm about 45 minutes from downtown). There are still bridges and roads out everywhere. Debris is still being hauled out all over the place. Home prices are high and tourism is way, way down right now. It's just not much of a destination right now. It will come back but you will have a hard time making any money at current prices. That's just reality.
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Kelly Palmatier
Investor · Asheville, NC · Member since 2016 · 3 posts · 2 votes
1y
We own a popular, themed short-term rental right in Asheville, the Happy Hippie House (HappyHippieHouse.com). We've been Airbnb Superhosts since 2016, and our property is one of the Airbnb "Guest Favorites," meaning it's one of the "most loved homes on Airbnb" according to guests. We've lowered our rates, and we're still dead on bookings as of April 2025. Now is when our tourist season would normally be picking up. Asheville is one of the most oversaturated cities for short-term rentals, and the post-hurricane slow down is real.
2 Reply
Abigail Gibson
Realtor · Asheville, NC · Member since 2019 · 47 posts · 45 votes
1y
@Kelly Palmatier How has the summer treated you? I know others have seen a pick up this summer, but as tourism is still down 30%, I am curious what your numbers look like.
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Kelly Palmatier
Investor · Asheville, NC · Member since 2016 · 3 posts · 2 votes
1y
Summer has been better. Our bookings picked up in May. We have had fairly steady bookings throughout most of the summer, although it has slowed down in August so far. Also, we already have interest coming in for October (the biggest tourist month here). I am hopeful that bookings will get even better after the parkway reopens fully.
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