Investing in a Cabin in the Mountains for Rental Property Income
So you are thinking about buying some property in the Smoky Mountains so you can have access to a vacation cabin, and you’d like to turn it into a vacation cabin rental to generate income while you aren’t there.
What kind of property offers the best chance for rental success?
I get this question frequently from homeowners and prospective rental property buyers. Johnny and I (Dena) have managed vacation cabin rentals through our company, Yellow Rose Realty for over 15 years now. We have learned from experience with actual historical rental patterns to back it up, what “rents” well and what doesn’t.
Here are tips to help you identify the best property to achieve your rental cabin goals:
Location and Cabin Floor Plan/Layout are the two most important elements in your purchase of property. Amenities and Interior Decorating come next in importance. We’ll talk about Location and Cabin Layout in this blog entry, and look for tips about Amenities and Interior Decorating in Part 2 next week.
Location:
The top requested cabin rentals in our Smoky Mountain vacation region that includes Bryson City, Cherokee, Nantahala, Fontana, and Dillsboro have Creekside and Mountain Views. Creekside rentals are, of course, more limited than mountain view rentals, so you will benefit from some built-in excess demand if you can find a good creekside property. Creekside properties are exceptionally popular for families with kids and the numerous stocked trout streams in our region make for a high value additional benefit for renters who like to fish.
Access:
Good roads to your cabin rental are important because vacationers do not necessarily have four-wheel drive vehicles, and/or they are not familiar with rugged terrain driving. Motorcycles are an increasingly popular target market with world-class motorcycle touring less than an hour from Bryson City, NC (Cherohala Skyway, Tail of the Dragon, and Blue Ridge Parkway to name just three).
Cabin Floor Plan/Layout:
Maybe you found the perfect property and want to build your own cabin, or maybe you want to buy an existing cabin and turn it into a rental cabin.
What kinds of physical layouts (cabin design) are most popular with renters?
Here they are:
Read more next week in our blog on What Makes a Successful Cabin Rental – Part 2, Amenities and Interior Decorating.
So you are thinking about buying some property in the Smoky Mountains so you can have access to a vacation cabin, and you’d like to turn it into a vacation cabin rental to generate income while you aren’t there.
What kind of property offers the best chance for rental success?
I get this question frequently from homeowners and prospective rental property buyers. Johnny and I (Dena) have managed vacation cabin rentals through our company, Yellow Rose Realty for over 15 years now. We have learned from experience with actual historical rental patterns to back it up, what “rents” well and what doesn’t.
Here are tips to help you identify the best property to achieve your rental cabin goals:
Location and Cabin Floor Plan/Layout are the two most important elements in your purchase of property. Amenities and Interior Decorating come next in importance. We’ll talk about Location and Cabin Layout in this blog entry, and look for tips about Amenities and Interior Decorating in Part 2 next week.
Location:
The top requested cabin rentals in our Smoky Mountain vacation region that includes Bryson City, Cherokee, Nantahala, Fontana, and Dillsboro have Creekside and Mountain Views. Creekside rentals are, of course, more limited than mountain view rentals, so you will benefit from some built-in excess demand if you can find a good creekside property. Creekside properties are exceptionally popular for families with kids and the numerous stocked trout streams in our region make for a high value additional benefit for renters who like to fish.Access:
Good roads to your cabin rental are important because vacationers do not necessarily have four-wheel drive vehicles, and/or they are not familiar with rugged terrain driving. Motorcycles are an increasingly popular target market with world-class motorcycle touring less than an hour from Bryson City, NC (Cherohala Skyway, Tail of the Dragon, and Blue Ridge Parkway to name just three).
Cabin Floor Plan/Layout:
Maybe you found the perfect property and want to build your own cabin, or maybe you want to buy an existing cabin and turn it into a rental cabin.
What kinds of physical layouts (cabin design) are most popular with renters?
Here they are:
- The best renting cabins have open floor plans with great rooms and cathedral ceilings. This big open room (living room, dining room, kitchen area all in one central area of the cabin) is really important. It gathers together your rental family/group and encourages shared activities, conversations, and time together in the one large gathering space.
- If you find a beautiful property with great mountain views or creekside access that has lots of separate rooms (i.e. no great room), definitely consider a renovation. Your repeat rental business depends on your renters loving their time in your cabin!
- How many bedrooms are ideal for maximum “rentability”?
- We manage over 60 vacation rentals and find that the two bedroom is the most popular and consistent for year-round target rentals. The three bedroom is the next popular. One bedrooms cabins are great for honeymooners and couples looking for a romantic retreat, but are less useful for broader target customers. The four bedroom and larger cabin is perfect for large groups and families, and rentals tend to be limited to holidays and summer months as a result.
Read more next week in our blog on What Makes a Successful Cabin Rental – Part 2, Amenities and Interior Decorating.
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