All Forum Posts by: Leora Merrell

Quote from @Ken Boone:

Quote from @Collin Hays:

Quote from @Ken Boone:

Quote from @Collin Hays:

Quote from @Ken Boone:

I’ll add this.  In the 2017-2018 time frame the general consensus was that given any cabin in the Smokies, most realtors were projecting income at 20k per year per bedroom. From what I saw at the time, these were good numbers to go by back then.  @Collin Hays would you say those projections back then were on target?

I had forgotten that, but now that you mention it, I recall hearing that. Probably a decent rule of thumb even for today. 

 And if we return to those 20k per bedroom numbers there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth! Because NOBODY that bought at 2023-2024 prices and leveraged it will make money.

 Yeah I don't think those numbers are going to be very far off of reality. I have a number of clients who we have managed for many years that are doing just fine at $20K a room.

I visited with a gentleman this week who bought a 3/2 in May of 2023 for $810K-ish, and he is listing it for $650K-ish.  He will probably get $550-600K.  If he waits much longer, it will be $450-500K.

 Yea that is gonna hurt! I got a buddy that's in a bad mess like that too.

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.

Quote from @Collin Hays:

I’ve been in this investment class for 20 years, so I’ve lived through a few of these cycles.

It’s fascinating just how far these inflated values can crash.

Consider this one…asking 1.2 million 3 years ago, asking $749K today, and it’s still sitting.  Going to be some really good deals in a few more months when panic sets in.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/436-Lucerne-Way-Gatlinbur...

 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.

I'm cancelling all cable at my properties that have WiFi. I'm going to streaming with your own apps only. It's a huge money saver. I've been asked once in almost 6 years over 7 properties if I get a certain channel so they could watch a football game. Other than that, I never, ever get comments on the cable and 100% of the time when I check on a property after check out, every single tv is on a streaming app. They're never on cable even though that is the default. Tells me it's not being used. Most major sports games require a streaming app nowadays anyway. It's time to move on from cable. I don't even have it at my own home. It's a waste of money.

I got a one star review from a dude trying to say they got bed bugs at one of my cabins (he just wanted money). I got reports from two different pest control companies indicating zero bed bugs were present and I also had invoices showing monthly treatments and inspections (including one two days prior to his arrival and it was vacant until he checked in). Airbnb still refused to remove it.

I've not requested a removal since then (2+ years ago) because I simply don't care. If they won't remove that obviously dishonest one, I'm not going to waste my time trying. If every other review is mostly 5s with a few 4s, the one 1 star review generally makes the person who left it look like an idiot. Especially if the host has a great response. 

We're all great hosts who do what they can but if you have several properties, the crazies are going to get in there at some point. Nothing you can do about it. I wonder after general host blowback about this and a possible decrease in bookings by featuring poor reviews first, they'll revert to most recent as the default.

I would also be interested if I could make it work with 7 STRs. Not a fan of QBs. 

Quote from @Collin Hays:

For whatever reason, "big" has been an irresistible lure in the Smokies. I spoke with a potential investor a few weeks ago who wouldn't hear anything but spending at least $1 million for a cabin. Everyone seems to be caught up in the aura of "McMansion" cabins. Even through the busiest years, our experience has been that large cabins do not provide the same ROI as small cabins. There is more wear and tear, there is much more that can malfunction, and they often require two families to afford.

I dare say a big part of that is realtors. After we bought our first, we worked with the builder to buy four more from him. We had two homes we sold and 1031’d into these other four cabins. Both the realtor we used for the first cabin AND the loan officer encouraged us to ditch the two bedrooms and “go bigger since we had access to so much 1031 cash.”
We ended up doing it all without a realtor. It was a very, very common encouragement in 2019 (when we first started buying) until mid 2023 when things started looking down. I have severely acquaintances who fell for it. They’re hurting. 
I have a farmhouse that sleeps 14 in wine country in NOVA. Mostly just books weekends. Still has more wear and tear than my 2 bedroom and 1 bedroom cabins that book 85-95% several months of the year. 

Agreed!

Our Smokies 1 bedroom beats some of our Smokies 2 bedrooms in terms of revenue some months out of the year. It's by far the easiest to manage and maintain. We're building another 1 bedroom right now next door on the extra lot that came with the first 1 bedroom (we remodeled that one). We were approved for up to a 3 bedroom on that lot but the numbers don't lie. The ROI on the one bedroom (we are building it ourselves, my husband is the GC) is better than a 2 or 3 bedroom at this time. I love my little 1 bedroom cabin. :)

Quote from @Jon Martin:

Quote from @John Underwood:

I hope they can make the app more like Vrbo's. Airbnb 's app is clunky and more difficult to use than Vrbo's.

From my own experience and what I hear from most others you are in the minority with this opinion. Maybe because you use VRBO more?

I started using both at the same time and found AirBnb to be far more user friendly with less clicks/swipes needed for any task. Whereas with VRBO I've had several tech issues that were unfixable, such as photos that never load no matter how much I manipulate them, and a catch 22 with the dynamic pricing that never worked that locked me out of my calendar. With AirBnb I've never had anything remotely as frustrating. 

I found the same thing as a guest as well. 

 Agreed. This is the first time I have ever heard anyone prefer the VRBO app over Airbnb. I prefer VRBO guests hands down and that they don't interfere with hosts as much as Airbnb, but the app and website are incredibly frustrating, slow, and outdated.

Thanks guys. I have to admit that I was hoping for some sort of magic trick. I'm pretty good about logging into Pricelabs several times a week but I'm still looking for more. Seems like what I'm looking for may not exist.

Serious question. I realize it may be a stupid one but I'm willing to look stupid if it means I learn something. I've been a host for 5+ years now and have 7 STRs (1 in wine country in NOVA, the rest are in the Smokies if that matters). I still struggle with this in Pricelabs. People often comment saying they are in Pricelabs every day "tweaking" their pricing. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! I know it's not "set it and forget it" but I am not understanding how working in Pricelabs means more than just lowering prices or raising prices. Any insight? Did I miss some tutorials everyone else has watched? Am I staring right at it and totally missing it?