Why are my bookings down?
Tuesday, January 03
This is the question of the day. I have taken three calls in the last 24 hours from homeowners wanting to make a change of management for their vacation rentals. Two of them self-managers, the other with another company. My first question is always "Why do you want to make a change?" Right now...
I bought way too high; now what?
Monday, December 19
What to do with that expensive cabin that I bought a year ago that isn't cash-flowing today? The balloon has popped. Well, maybe not popped. But air is coming out pretty fast. Borrowing costs have doubled in the last year, the economy is slowing, vacations are fewer, and lots of homes have bee...
WARNING: EMOTIONS CAN BE DAMAGING TO YOUR STR INVESTMENT
Sunday, September 04
One of the gifts of human life is emotions. Emotions are “the natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one's circumstances, mood, or relationships with others.” Emotions include happiness, fear, anger, euphoria, sadness, and a lot of grey matter in between. Emotions are feelings. And f...
It isn't about the PRICE. It is about the YIELD!
Wednesday, August 24
As with ANY investment, investing in cabins in the Smokies is all about YIELD. The investor should be seeking a property that will return a suitable yield in exchange for the significant amount invested. Here is the scenario: Cabin A is a brand new 2 bedroom, 2 bath cabin deep in the woods wit...
Smokies state of the union
Sunday, August 21
Here we are, mid-August. I spent the last 5 days running around the Gatlinburg area looking at properties. Here is what I am seeing, from my vantage point: 1. The larger cabins are becoming overbuilt. There appears to be a glut. That is going to put a lot of downward pressure on home prices ...
Monthly Cash Flow: The Big Lie
Friday, August 05
It seems like once a week, someone contacts me asking if a certain property will produce monthly income. If you are borrowing money to buy a vacation rental and expecting it to throw off monthly income to you after all expenses, you're not being realistic. Unless you self manage, and in that cas...