Investing in property is more lucrative now more than ever - and the Smoky Mountain area is no exception. Carol and David Bryant are a husband and wife team with almost 30 years of combined experience in the vacation rental and property market. They are owners of Eden Crest Properties, LLC, based in the Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg areas of eastern Tennessee. Here, they discuss why there’s no time like the present to invest.
There has never been a better time to purchase an investment real estate property, especially in the Smoky Mountain area. This is based on the fact that for the first time ever, we are seeing foreclosures and short sales in the area, with property selling at 40 cents and 50 cents on the dollar. And all the while our tourism is staying strong, which in turn produces a high rental income.
It is a market that for the savvy investor who has the ability to make a 20% down payment, and in fact, we don’t think you will ever buy this cheap again. We are showing anywhere from as high as a 22% return on the investment within the first year.
Renting on an Overnight Basis
The majority of our owners will buy the property, place it with a property management company such as Eden Crest Properties, and then have us rent it out for them on overnight rental basis, not on a long-term lease. One nice thing about this is that the owner can come and stay whenever he wants.
If you want, of course, you could rent out the property for six months of the year, and live in it for the other six months. But what normally happens is the owner comes in only two three weeks a year as part of his vacation time, and the rest of the time the property is producing income for them.
In most cases, the property comes fully furnished, although in a lot of cases today with foreclosures, they are sold not furnished. It just couldn’t be easier!
What to Look For
We would always tell someone looking to invest in a rental property in the Smoky Mountains area to look for the newer resort-based investments that offer a lot of amenities within the resort. Another thing to look for is rental history, what that particular cabin has done in the past, as well as the strength of that particular resort.
The best rule of thumb is to go by is the history of rentals within that resort. Take a resort with 120 cabins, for example. There might be some that have not done very well because of the way they are decorated, or because they have a lack of decoration, a lack of games, or a lack of view within that resort. But the resort itself may be very successful based on the majority of the properties in it. So it pays to see the whole picture, and then you could work with that – by decorating the property to a higher standard, for example.
Choose the Best
Eden Crest is able to help you with the management of your new Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg investment property with property management through Eden Crest Vacation Rentals. Our experts are here to help you with your real estate investment from beginning to end in one seamless process.
From your purchase to stress-free property management that can help you see more profits, Eden Crest Properties is here to help you find the Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Tennessee, real estate that will accomplish your investing goals.
