All Forum Posts by: Leora Merrell

We go to that area every year for Fall Break and I have several properties on my wish list. They have pools, easier beach access, and offer beach gear and towels (that's important to me for space when traveling). Many are priced lower than you. I'm sorry, I know it's not fun to hear that. Your king suite is beautiful!

 Same. Haven't lost a remote for 5 cabins times 5 years and there are manual switches on all of them.

All of our cabins have electric. People love them. Several have even asked for links to what we have so they can put one in their own hime.

Their website and app are such a mess. I was responding to reviews just a few mins ago when it logged me out and now I can't get back in. Guests can now add pics to reviews- kind of weird to me. And typing a message in the app is terrible.

Talked to my VRBO rep last week. Wasn't super productive but one of my questions for her was if discounts stack. She said no. Guess what? They do. Lost a lot of money on that booking. 

Last, I've had probably a couple dozen times over 5 years and across 7 properties when a guest has said they "can't access" the property. Every time (except 2) it was user error. They didn't read to push an additional button after entering a code or something similar. The other 2 times were dead batteries so having a back up key in a lock box is crucial. So what if a guest can't get in because of their own doing?

All this to say that I find it interesting they're putting all these things in place but still have such an ancient website and terrible support.

I've recently had a lot more guest comments about them than usual. I drove through Cade's Cove two weeks ago hoping to climb to Gregory's Bald with my kids (road to the trail head was actually washed out so that was a bummer) but we saw several there too. Usually we only see turkeys. :)

I just had to show Airbnb paperwork and they cancelled penalty free. It was really simple. For VRBO I got all the guests to either canceL or I switched to another property. 

Currently building a one bedroom cabin in Sevierville, TN. Husband is GC, we're doing 90% of the work ourselves. We own the lot outright. Currently just paying cash for everything as we go. I'm looking into getting a HELOC on our primary home in case I'll need to access some additional funds to finish.

840+ credit score. Current mortgage on primary is around $400k. Probably will appraise for around $625k (being conservative). Looking for access to $50k max or so (though I realize that may be on the low side for a HELOC and may not gain the interest of some lenders based on a few I've spoken to). We plan to cash out refi once it's done (estimated September 2025). Should appraise around $375k-400k once complete.

I have 6 other investment properties with significant equity but from my research have learned it's probably best to use our primary for a HELOC. Happy to take any suggestions though.

Talked to a few local banks and the process for a HELOC is long and paperwork filled. Perhaps that is the reality everywhere so I'll accept it if it is.

I've got three friends in this mess too. And they used HELOC's on primaries for the down payment planning on 2022-2023 rents to continue to pay off the HELOC quickly. :( It's a real shame but I still don't see how people thought that would last forever. FOMO was absolutely real along with realtors being VERY greedy.

We have 5 (almost 6) in the area and are fine (definitely down) but we paid less than $300k each for all ours between 2020-2021.

Taxes and insurance are getting pretty terrible though. The idea of Sevier county being a great place to invest for low taxes is no longer true.

 Still needs to drop in price significantly to make it worth it. A lot of work needs to be done on that cabin to update to make it competitive with all the rest in the area.