All Forum Posts by: John Whitfield

Are you sure you want to move forward with this right now?  It's going to be a good long while before things get back to normal around here.  

I live in Black Mountain, right outside Asheville.  The damage here is really hard to describe.  We got an update today on water.  3 plants serve Asheville, they're working on all 3, South Asheville has water, the other two that serve the remainder (downtown included) will take longer.  It may be another 3-8 weeks, but hopefully not that long.  There has been a tremendous amount of support and people coming into the area to help rebuild.  The utility crew working on power lines on my street yesterday was from Canada.
If the tenant wants to leave, just let the tenant go.  Tons of people lost their homes; I suspect you'll have no trouble finding another tenant.

Black Mountain, Swannanoa, and Asheville all got hit very hard.  Lots of structural damage, and the entire area is still without water and power for the most part.  Damage is on par with Katrina.  It's going to be a lot of work to restore and clean up.  Where is the property you were looking to buy?  Close to downtown or more in the mountains?

@Jonathan Greene

I live in Black Mountain.  Curious what you're basing your numbers off of- I'm guessing the 2023 numbers are going to be a far more accurate prediction of future performance.  

@Dito Calderon and @Mitch Davidson, thanks for posting these updates.  I can't make the meetings but am following as closely as I can. 

It's nice to see the community showing support for STRs and pointing out that an STR doesn't solve any of the real problems. Hopefully any regulations that get passed will be logical and not overly heavy handed (not holding my breath, but here's hoping).

@Mitch Davidson, thanks for posting this.  I've seen this, and it looks like a timeline of 12-28 months before this would take effect.  
Do you have any better info on the date that this would go into effect, and do you mind sharing the link where people should go to apply for their STR permit now?

@Kyle Wise No metric that would predict an increase. Just my feeling. I think some hosts will leave the space when they realize it’s not an easy buck, and I think travel overall is down right now, which I feel will be temporary.

@Mitch Davidson Agree with your assessment on current market trends, especially with STR bookings. I think we're in a temporary slump for sure, but we're still pushing forward, as we expect things will improve over the next 12-24 months. With that said, we're fortunate enough to be able to weather the slump if things don't.

@Jason Merchey  It seems that so much of what's going on right now is characterized by polarized views and over-reaction.  Hopefully, Buncombe County will regroup and swing back towards a more reasonable middle ground.  Admittedly, while I love living in the area (Black Mountain specifically), some of the current trends regarding crime rate definitely give me pause when I start thinking about how best to invest in the area.

I totally agree, Mitch.  We moved to the Asheville area simply because of how awesome it is, and I'm certain we're not alone.