All Forum Posts by: John Craven

@Brad Van Rassel - Deals have certainly been tough to come by, but I do have one property in Dickson that cash flows well. I'm actively looking in Dickson for another property. It took buying a VERY rough property with a significant rehab to make it a good deal, but it's been solid for me so far.

Thanks @Ken Boone.  That's good to know.  I don't plan to use Hughes Net, fortunately.  I have Hollernet going out to the cabin this morning for a site assessment.  Already best customer service I've dealt with in a while! Thanks again for the local contact!

The plan is for this to bridge the gap between now and whenever Comcast gets their act together, as I'll probably move over to them eventually.  But I've had 3 cable bury work orders, 4 tech appointments and countless phone calls with Comcast with about zero progress (they even managed to somehow mistakenly open a cable bury work order for a Houston address I lived at 6 years ago rather than the for the cabin!!  What a headache.)  So, we'll see.  

@Michael Baum - it would be Dish w/ Hughes Net or DirecTv w/ Hollernet.

@Michael Baum - I believe it is unlimited, but that is certainly something I'll need to confirm.

Thanks y'all.  This is all really helpful.

Based on the feedback, I'm leaning towards getting satellite tv/internet while I wait on Comcast to get their act together.  I will likely switch to Comcast whenever it becomes an option, but it doesn't make a ton of sense to not try satellite tv/internet while I wait.  That way I won't be missing out on the revenue during that period, as @Bernie Cesareo mentioned.   

I will likely go with Dish as the provider, but I'm also going to look into hollernet.  I can't remember what internet provider Dish uses - but I'm pretty sure it was either hollernet or hughes net, I believe.

Hey BP community, 

I wanted to see what experience folks have had using satellite tv and internet in their short-term rentals, specifically in the Smokies.  I have a larger cabin in Wears Valley in the Smokies (5bd), and I'm trying to determine if it's worth getting satellite tv/internet immediately (would be ready in less than a week), or continue to deal with Comcast and their issues getting cable to my cabin (going on 6-7 weeks with them at this point).

As of today, cable/internet are the only things holding up taking the property live, so the delays by Comcast are real $$ to me.  The concern is obviously that satellite, specifically internet, at 100mbps won't have the bandwidth to handle a full cabin of approx. 16 guests, and that could lead to negative reviews which might be worse than waiting a couple more weeks for Comcast.

Thanks in advance!

@Todd Goedeke - While I don't know how @Paul Cox financed his purchase, your 8% amount assumes he paid in cash and did not leverage the property, which would be surprising.  If he put down 25%, then that return number is obviously significantly higher.

@Joshua Myers, good question.  This cabin would be a long-term investment.  I would plan on keeping the property so long as it is generating revenue.  

Thanks again everyone for all the responses.  The seller ultimately agreed to postpone the closing for a bit, which will allow me to see how the market responds over the short term. 

@David Miller - to second what @Philip Steen said, if adding a second bathroom will create an additional $40K-$55K in value after accounting for the cost of the second bathroom, then it might be good to consider adding that value to your primary and then pulling that value out with a HELOC which could be used on an investment property. Two birds that way.