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| Broker/Realtor |
| TN Lic Number: 284732 |
| Office: 1 (866) 411-8400 |
| Fax: 1 (865) 774-7460 |
| Mobile: 1 (865) 654-5667 |
| phorine@timbertops.net |
| 1440 Upper Middle Creek Rd |
| Sevierville, TN 37738 |
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Frequently Asked Questions
I want to preface this answer by saying that you can find cabins of any shape, size, location or design that rent well. The quality of the cabin and furnishings, style, location and view are more important than having specific size. One and two bedroom cabins with a good view and lots of amenities tend to do well, and are good year round rentals. Larger cabins tend to be a little more seasonal, but pull in more per night, so they can also make excellent rentals. The point I want to make is that you are probably better off offering a quality product than offering more bedrooms. A really good one bedroom will probably do as well or better than an average two or three bedroom.
Here are some cabins on the Timber Tops rental program that are good examples of what to shoot for:
Seclusion - http://www.smokymtncabins.com/seclusion/index.htm
Above The Starrs - http://www.smokymtncabins.com/abovestarrs/index.htm
Grace Manor - http://www.smokymtncabins.com/gracemanor/index.htm
Regardless of what size cabin you get, here are some things that I think are important:
Wood interior and wood floors. When most people come to the mountains and rent a cabin, they want to stay in a place that looks different than their house. If you have carpet and drywall in your cabin, it is just like staying home. Not to mention that when the carpet gets stained or the paint on the walls gets chipped, it looks trashy. If you get a ding in a tongue and groove wall, or some scratches in the hardwood floor, it looks rustic and worn in, like a cabin should. I have also noticed that cabins with carpet in them sometimes develop a musty smell. I can pretty much guarantee that if your cabin smells bad, it is not going to rent well.
Game room. You may not want to play games when you come to the mountains, but most of the time you are better off having a game room. I have seen several cabins go from a two bedroom to a one bedroom with a game room, and they almost always rent better with the game room. You may not like to play pool, air hockey or foosball, but there are a lot of people renting cabins that do. If you do not offer a game room, and everyone else does, you are at a disadvantage when the time comes to attract renters to your unit. When it comes down to it, you are competing against the other houses in your category. It costs the same amount to rent one house in a given category as it does another. If one house has a bunch of toys and amenities and another house has just enough to get it into the category, it is not rocket science to figure out which one if going to rent the best.
Luxury. Decorate your cabin with more than just the basics. I have been in more cabins than I can remember, and even in cabins with the same floor plan, in the same basic location, you will find big differences in rental income. A lot of the time, this all comes down to decorating and furnishing. The cabins that earn the most money usually have plush sofas, nice furniture, window treatments, greenery and lots of pictures and decorative items. Remember, a rental cabin is an investment and you get what you pay for. If your cabin is sparsely decorated with the cheapest furniture you can find, do not expect people to wait in line to rent it. If you are looking to get a top dollar return on your investment, you have to give the guests a top dollar experience.
Timber Tops Rental Company works on a 60/40 split, where the owner gets 60% of the gross rent and the rental company gets 40%. They also charge the following fees:
2% of the monthly gross receipts for hot tub care,
$20 monthly for trash removal,
$50 monthly for marketing,
60% of actual credit card usage fees,
0.125% of gross receipts tax levied on business activity for Sevier County, Tennessee.
There are many rental companies in the local area, and you would be wise to do a little research on your own about how they all work. Like most things in life, rental companies all have their own advantages and disadvantages.
Timber Tops is the only company I know that charges each owner $50 a month for marketing. If you rent your cabin through another company, you will probably not have $50 taken out of your monthly check. On the other hand, that means that Timber Tops probably has a larger marketing budget and a more effective marketing program than any other company that you are likely to talk with. If quality marketing is important to you, then $50 a month is probably worth it. If you do not think that marketing makes a difference, then you may want to rent your cabin through someone else.
Timber Tops is a large company. They have a lot of cabins (350 or so at the time that this was written) on their program. That means that they are probably not going to be able to accommodate special requests as easily as a smaller company. If you are the sort of person who wants special treatment, you are probably not going to like dealing with them. They have a job to do, and with 350 cabins on the program, they cannot give each owner preferential treatment. If you want you or your cabin to be treated different than the other owners, talk to a smaller company. Keep in mind that if a company claims they will give you the edge over the other owners on their program, there is nothing stopping them from giving someone else preferential treatment over you. At Timber Tops, your cabins performance is going to be directly related to how your cabin compares to the other cabins on the program. There is no rotation, and they do not push certain cabins because they have not rented well. They let the guest decide where they stay.
All that being said, I sell real estate, I do not rent cabins. I do not care what company you choose to rent your cabin. Most of my experience with the rental side of the business has been with Timber Tops, so I know a fair amount about how they operate. When it comes to other companies, I am not nearly as familiar with their daily business. In the end, you need to work with the rental company that you feel is going to work out the best for you.
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