All Forum Posts by: Ruth Blue

Howdy @Adam Cade, Thank you for your service! My Dad was in the Army and is retired in Loudon, TN. As you know this area is so beautiful and the best place to settle when time to relax and live your best life. There are alternatives to full time Property Managers some just charge per lease creation, meaning that if you have a tenant in your property with an active lease your not paying additional fees. It is always a good idea to ask? Plus there are tons of online programs that help facilitate listing rentals like cozy.co and rent redi. My mom used Cozy.co for years now and highly recommends it. 

Hi @Kristina Bayes

Self managing is a lot of the BP investors  method but a lot of investors do still find value with Property Managers Both here in the Smoky Mountains and in Florida!

I know and have heard good things about Christian Marin, and also Citravest. I have some family who own down there and also in Destin. 

@Monique O'Dell

We just relocated almost 2 years now from SoCal.

We are in the Knoxville area. It is growing fast and surprisingly. Everytime I meet new "locals" they moved from CA. It is always so surprising.

We live in the Cedar Bluff area and I know Farragut and Concord are very nice.

@Robin Jones

Zillow rents or hotpads is the local favorite for finding tenants in our area. E TN

When this crisis first started Airbnb's cleaning recommendation already stated this as a policy. 24 hours between guests for cleaning.  You have to remember airbnb started as room share inside your personal house and is still primarily home share based.  Cleaning crews like we use for vacation rentals in my opinion are much more experienced in sanitizing spaces and how to be careful from contamination compared to your normal homeowner. I think this is  a way to CYA from  political pressures and of course news worthy.  

@Christian Valencia

One major lesson my mom @Rhonda Blue taught me about investing is to be sure and know you tax liability. If you have your properties leveraged you may be in a better tax situation with deductions like insurance, interest,  lost rents, etc then if you have your properties paid off and just showing income. Do what helps you sleep at night but I know I would rather have renters pay for my mortgage and have less tax liability.  

@Zachary Penn HELOC can be an awesome way to borrow against what you have to purchase more properties and build your portfolio. My mom @Rhonda Blue did that. She leveraged her CA property and borrowed 100k against equity to purchase 2 rentals here in TN. She never lets anyone forget about what she learned. 1. It was awesome to roll the money into 2 more income producing properties. 2. It was AWFUL to have her credit go from 799 to 630 in just 2 months because with a HELOC it counts against you as a credit card so if you use more then 30% which she used 100% of it. Credit Bureau considers that a bad manager of credit and your score will suffer. She quickly decided to cash out refinance and rolled the 1st and 2nd into one loan with a low interest rate. Some thing to consider only as last resort! She said that if she had to do it over again just do the cash out refinance and use the cash to purchase. No issue with credit!

My mom @Rhonda Blue has a property that she is selling in Madison, AL Awesome producer and we are currently waiting for the tenant to quality to buy! Interesting situation. We have it not listed but the rental managed through Carolyn Dietrich rental company. She had 4 and is just downsizing to 2 because she is looking for commercial property locally. My point is Huntsville, Madison has been a strong sturdy market and will remain that way I feel because of all the military and high tech industry that is centralized there. 

Agree with @Sean 100%

@Account Closed

I'm so so Happy to hear your cabin is doing so well. Exactly what we talked about. It is all about how you manage your investment and knowing the numbers and actual potential going into it. This market is extremely high priced right now. We have sellers asking for astronomical prices because they have a view but based of revenue I do not see how they are making the returns promised by some Selling Agents. While one owner/investor is happy with a 15% return another one may not get out of bed for less then 30%. Its all about your personal investment comfort zone and what amount of return /risk you want. 

With services opening back up in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg over the next few weeks Our bookings have exploded and we are also at 95% occupancy even with our larger managed cabins starting to book up again! 

Hope everyone is safe and we have a  profitable remaining 2020! 

@Gerald Pitts The 1 br do not last on the Pigeon Forge Gatlinburg market for more then a day usually are under contract within 2 hours of showing up on the MLS. There is a reason. From my experience with the ones my family and I own and also the ones we manage, They stay booked even when we have a few weeks of off season. Expenses are much much less getting started with a 1 br plus maintenance is less. Over all for investors who want to dip their toes into the market, it is a safer bet for sure. Every market has the BIG DOGS who want the biggest best and brightest. But for the rest of us who want a solid return and still feel a little bit of safety. The reason @Rhonda Blue says they stay booked is 1. PRICE, 2. VIEW, 3. Amenities. If you buy your cabin for a good price allowing you to offer it for a good rental price It should stay rented. There are tons of programs and opinions on pricing. To each there own. Do what works. 2. Views are important but not the be all for quality rentals. Honeymoon capital of the South Guests want PRIVACY!!!. 3. We all want quality amenities. Ask yourself what you would want if you stayed in your cabin and try to meet your own needs. Guests will love you for it.