Latest / Short Term Shopping / $600K Blue Ridge Cabin Breakdown, North Georgia STR Numbers

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$600K Blue Ridge Cabin Breakdown, North Georgia STR Numbers · Short Term Shopping

• 0:02
  Speaker A: Welcome to Short Term Shopping, where we explore homes for sale in the best vacation markets in America. Some homes we do like, some homes we don't like. Brought to you by the short Term shop. It's Short Term shopping. All right, here we are. We are on the greatest show on the planet with, with Yak. I love, love getting together with this guy. He's a fun guy to talk to. And we're gonna talk about real estate in North Georgia today. North. North. North Georgia Real estate podcast, whatever the hell you want to call it. And yeah, man, what's going on? It's holiday season. How you doing?
• 0:45
  Speaker B: Absolutely. Going well. Got got Thanksgiving behind us and bring on Christmas, you know, so getting the kids settled in, taking care of all that mess and making sure Santa knows what to do. But other than that, it's. It's real estate.
• 1:01
  Speaker A: My kids are seven and five and. And it's hard to buy them Christmas gifts week because, you know, I like to get them to catalogs like the Walmart catalog, and Amazon has one now in Target. I actually have them right here. But the problem is that their age, they flip through. They. They literally circle every single thing in there.
• 1:20
  Speaker B: Been there, been there, done that.
• 1:21
  Speaker A: I'm trying to get them to get excited about, like, one or two things that they can really light up about, but I think there may. I don't know, they live that Disney World life, so it's hard to get them excited about anything when we go to Disney World all the time. Right.
• 1:36
  Speaker B: Well, now my. Mine have earmarked a few big ticket items and we take care of that and then, you know, some stocking stuffers and little things to go around it. So I like the idea of one big thing. It makes it easier, I think, on mom and dad, too, or Santa, for that matter. Yeah.
• 1:49
  Speaker A: And we're always doing Christmas, usually not anywhere near where we live. So then you got to figure out how to get this stuff back home. You know, there's that.
• 1:57
  Speaker B: Yeah, certainly that part of it.
• 1:59
  Speaker A: Well, anyway, for those of you that are listening to this in June, I'm sorry about that, but love Christmas. And that's where we're at in life as. As of the recording of this podcast. And speaking of where we're at in life, the economy stinks, you know, for the most part. We got some issues out there. The stock market's doing well. Interest rates are going down, so there's some positive stuff going on. But it does seem like Average Joe is somewhat, you know, I don't want to use the word Broke, but hurting a little bit right now. And, and it's. Let's. Let's be real. First of all, the 2022 is long gone. The, the heyday of money falling out of the sky is long gone. But,
• 2:38
  Speaker B: Luke, let me cut you off.
• 2:39
  Speaker A: Yeah, I was going to say, don't make me sound like Debbie Doubter.
• 2:41
  Speaker B: I mean, you making me feel bad. Do you think the economy really stinks or do you think it's just kind of more normal? I mean, is that fair? You know, I mean, like you said, money's not falling out. Just because it's not falling out of the sky anymore doesn't mean it's not there. Right?
• 2:55
  Speaker A: I don't know. That's the problem. I, I do tons of research on this all day, every day and listen to podcasts and news and everything and, and I don't know what the hell's going on out there because all signs are pointing to, to things being pretty okay. But, you know, people aren't spending as much money in certain, certain aspects of their lives, it seems like. Now again, I'm back to Disney World. I was just there and it was jam packed and I'm like, man, everybody here spent at least five grand, so maybe they do have money. I don't know. Let's bring that into North Georgia real estate. What are you seeing? Are people buying stuff or is it slow?
• 3:32
  Speaker B: It's definitely slowed down. You know, you don't have to get as, you know, aggressive. Let's say as it was three or four years ago, where. Oh, crap, when hits the market, let's jump on it. Now, I will say this. We are a smaller market, so when a good property shows up at a good price, you know, there could be a multiple offer situation. You know, it's not happening a ton. But look, I, I tell everybody, people think it's an art to find a good house at a good price. If you stare at Zillow listings long enough, Luke, me. And you can find one in, I don't know, Lawrenceburg, Oklahoma. You know what I mean? You know, it's not that hard to do, right? I mean, a good house when you're looking at all the comparables in the area at a good price, it's. It's not that difficult to do. So I tell everybody, if you've identified it as a good house at a good price, I'm willing to bet you I got multiple clients that are doing the same thing, right? And it's just the way the world works. But with that being said, I Do think there's a lot of overpriced listings out there? A lot of people bought at the peak of the market. They didn't have probably the resources that we provide to them. You know, they, they bought a property that they wanted to use as a rental primarily, and they probably bought it and paid too much for it.
• 4:54
  Speaker A: Have you, have you been to Lawrenceburg, Oklahoma?
• 4:57
  Speaker B: No, I'm just looking at a map and it was the random thing that showed up in the corner of my.
• 5:01
  Speaker A: What are you doing looking at a map of Oklahoma?
• 5:04
  Speaker B: Well, I'm not. I saw Lawrenceburg and I knew it was in Tennessee and I was like, well, let me pick one further away.
• 5:08
  Speaker A: Oh, Tennessee. Oh, I got you.
• 5:10
  Speaker B: I figured there's one in Oklahoma. I was trying to get as obscure as I could. Yeah, well, could have said Wyoming.
• 5:15
  Speaker A: No, good job, mission accomplished.
• 5:18
  Speaker B: So. But no, I mean, you know, I'll say this. You know, the real estate market has slowed down, but there's still plenty of good opportunities to add. And, you know, there are overpriced listings. But, man, let's, let's shoot out a number. You know, if I'm representing you as a buyer, let's put a number in front of them. And a lot of times, you know, sellers go, well, if I need to get out from under this, I need to let it go. And I tell people, don't be scared of the listing price. If we submit a low offer, so be it. And maybe they, maybe a seller gets two or three low ball offers. And you know me and you've had this discussion before. If you're representing a seller and you. And they get three offers that are 100, $200,000 off their price, those are no longer low ball offers. That's the market and it has shifted.
• 6:11
  Speaker A: Yeah. Okay, so just let's back it up. We're talking about north, north of Atlanta, Blue Ridge Mountains, et cetera, all in that area. Several areas, you know, within that area. But Blue Ridge is the most. The biggest name anyway. But it's a very small area really. So let's, let's paint that picture. First of all. I mean, how many on any given day, how much product do we even have to look at? I mean, am I able to flip through 200 houses for sale or. You know what I mean? Like.
• 6:38
  Speaker B: Yeah. So to give people perspective, the town of Blue Ridge inside the city limits, my understanding, there's less than 3,000 people that live there full time. Okay, so it's small. It's just a little hide away for kind of the, you know, people in Atlanta want to go to vacation. And now it's people in Atlanta plus Florida where they want to go to vacation. You know, in terms of how many rentals are on the market, there's not a ton. I will say this. There's just like every other market. It's saturated with people providing a subpar experience and want above par money. And it just doesn't work like that, you know, no longer. You know what I mean? You kind of, you know, I tell people you get, you get what you pay for, but at any point in time when it comes to, you know, two bedrooms, three bedrooms, four bedrooms, there's enough out there where you can be picky as a buyer. And I recommend you doing that. You know, you don't have to fall for the first one, you know, the first one that shows up. Find the one that, you know, like I tell everybody, find the one that's got bigger bedrooms where you can most definitely get king beds in there, you know, because in my market, that matters. You know, there's a lot of people that are coming from metro Atlanta and they may live in an 800 square foot condo in a, in a skyrise condo, and they've never slept in a king bed. And for them to come to a cabin and sleep in a king bed, it's a big deal, you know, so king beds in my market, huge deal. You know, now everywhere, cabin communities, you know, this, you got to have the hot tub, you know, and then I tell everybody, if you're doing the, the three, the two bed there are bigger than two bedrooms. You need to have that secondary common area, you know, let that game room downstairs or whatever you want to call it, hangout room, but, you know, put in as many amenities as possible. All these things matter. You know, you've got a. I tell everybody the pie. With the economy, I think the pie is not shrinking. The pie is just staying the same size.
• 8:34
  Speaker A: You.
• 8:35
  Speaker B: And we got to figure out how to increase the slice of our pie that we're taking from the, you know, revenue. And how do we increase revenue? Well, you got to have amenities and you got to have other things that other people don't have and you're going to get shopped. And I feel like in this market, because we're so close, we're about 90 minutes from metro Atlanta, you know, sure enough, like middle of the city, probably two hours from the airport, an hour from north metro Atlanta.
• 9:02
  Speaker A: And.
• 9:03
  Speaker B: But because of our location, I think we're a little more probably heavier on esthetics. Than maybe some other cabin markets. I think we're. We tend to be a little trendier than other camping markets. And I tell people if Joanna Gaines comes out and she makes a blog that, you know, pink curtains are going to be the new hot thing in cabins this year, brother. Run to Target. Get your pink curtains, because it's coming. And those little things, because we are trendy, you know, help. And it's. It's where you can kind of. You know what it is, Luke? You get in the margins and figure out how you can make a little more. More money than your neighbors. And here, if you're kind of in tune to that man, you can make money hand over fist if. But if you bought the house and say it was built in 2002 and it looks like my grandma decorated in 2002, gonna have to breathe some life into it. And not wholesale changes. But I talk about the small stuff, the soft goods, the curtains, the rugs, you know, the bedding, all that, you know, the. I know in the Smokies, you probably see a lot of red and black plaid and moose prints and bear prints and, you know, chickens and all that stuff. But here, you know, we're a little more farmhouse chic than. Than anything. And. And I know that plays well in. In every place, but I would say more so here than maybe the Smokies in North Carolina. Is that kind of farmhouse chic interior design work goes a long way?
• 10:33
  Speaker A: No, because you are dealing with a lot more big city people than they are in East Tennessee and other areas. A lot of areas. Because you're right there, close to one of the biggest cities in America. And these folks are, you know, they're. They're more. They're used to culture. A little more culture, I guess, is a good way to put it. Maybe they've eaten some hummus in their life, that kind of thing, you know, And East Tennessee, let's forget about it. I mean, let's. Let's be real. The big. A big day in East Tennessee is a Tennessee Volunteers football game, you know, and you make an excellent point. They probably don't want. I mean, I'm not trying to use the word redneck here, but they probably don't want it to be as, you know, redneck.
• 11:15
  Speaker B: Well, you know, and look, I'm as a proud redneck.
• 11:19
  Speaker A: Me, too.
• 11:20
  Speaker B: I. I don't know if I'd call it right, but you know what I mean? I mean, it's a little. In Tennessee, it's a little more Dolly Parton, a little More that classic old school kind of cabin feel. We're here. The cabins are the same cabins, right? But just the decor may be a little more modern, you know, say, you know, as, as it may be in the Smokies. But, you know, and I tell people that's your, that's your end, right? Because you're always looking for, when you're looking at properties, how am I going to differentiate mine from somebody else's, you know, and look, how much are, how much are curtains? And you know, that type of decor, not expensive stuff. This is, this is all Amazon. This is all target.com.
• 12:00
  Speaker A: it always blows my mind that people don't realize how that you can transform a house with, I mean, even just a paint job. That's actually a pretty extreme example because that's not super cheap, but, you know, new blinds and stuff like that. Good, good, good thing to bring up is the fact that everybody these days seems to think they need a designer. And, and you know, that may have been the case in the peak when everybody was just spending money like crazy and designers were like all the rage. And, you know, it's still a great idea to do that if you're, if you're that type of person. But I can't tell you how many times people have come to me and said, I need a designer. And I'm like, well, what do you need done? And they're like, I want to change this wall color and I want to, you know, put some wallpaper on in this bathroom. And I'm like, you don't need a designer for that. You need a painter. This is what you need. You know, I mean, now if you have no idea what color to pick and all that kind of stuff, I get it. But as soon as you start using that D word, it's like, it seems, seems like, boom, there goes 15 grand, you know, But I don't know, it's just my old school landlord, you know, like, we don't need to spend all that kind of money kind of thing. But, but you make an excellent point with the, with the drapes or window coverings, whatever you want to call them.
• 13:16
  Speaker B: That. That's right. I mean, we're not mixing rocket fuel for the Apollo 13. You know, it's, it's real simple stuff. Just, you know, if you've got an Internet connection, a cell phone and access to Google, you know, type in 2025 trends, farmhouse or cabin, and just see what pops up, man. And, you know, find some stuff, I'm sure. And look, everybody's trying to sell it too. And you know what's great? What I love is, you know, the Smoky Mountain, all these cabins they have, you know, the big heavy live edge furniture stuff. And man, is it expensive, you know what I mean? We've got a guy, Jerry in town who builds all that live edge, you know, all the stuff that looks like it's made out of logs and that stuff cost a mint. But you know what I don't feel, I mean, that's not where our trend is right now. It is that farmhouse chic stuff. And you know what? You can get that stuff off any retail website there is. And it's so much cheaper, you know what I mean? Like home goods, you know, all the, all that, those trinkets and tchotchkes, you know, that you, you put on the wall, the decor is so much cheaper than that big, heavy log furniture. And it's a blessing, you know, because you get a, you know, one of these couches go, you know, go to, what is it? Rooms to go and get you a suite of some single color stuff. And look, when that couch breaks four years from now, so what? But at least you didn't pay 12 grand for it. You know, get you a 1500 dollar couch that's of the modern style and when you get three or four or five years out of it, kick it out and buy a new one. But don't, don't buy the super heavy stuff because a lot of times in some cases it works because to me it looks like beach stuff doesn't really, you know, it kind of, you've got your turquoise and your, your light color, your light greens and your light blues and kind of that ocean vibe. But for whatever reason here we cycle through stuff about every 10 years about, you know, what people want for decor.
• 15:19
  Speaker A: I don't think I've ever had a couch get to the point where I said it's time to update that couch. It's always, somebody ripped a hole in it or whatever. It's a rental. You know, at the end of the day, this drives me nuts. People going out trying to spend all this high dollars, you know, on this expensive stuff. It's a rental. Man, they're going to do weird stuff in there. They don't mean it. But you know, I just get whatever's on sale. Now that is the one thing about the mountain areas you can get, usually get those heavy duty leather couches and they, they tend to last a little
• 15:50
  Speaker B: longer, but they can, they can for
• 15:53
  Speaker A: sure down here on the beach. Forget it. I just get whatever's cheap, man. I want a little, little L shaped sectional that is, you know, somewhere around 1200 bucks. Because that thing's going to be covered in somebody. What happens is they come out of the pool and they sit on the couch and it's just nasty.
• 16:08
  Speaker B: No, I would say, look, do the same thing in Blue Ridge. Get that cheap L shaped couch, put it in your game room, call it a day. You know, don't go to lazyboy.com, you know, because you know that thing's 12 grand.
• 16:20
  Speaker A: Yeah, they're expensive.
• 16:22
  Speaker B: So. Good from far. Far from good. You know, the, the.
• 16:27
  Speaker A: You got an example, I think. I don't know if this is a good time for you to share something that show us kind of what you're talking about. Like, you know, what something looks like.
• 16:35
  Speaker B: Well, let's do this. If you don't mind. I'm going to pull up. I've kind of set aside some listings that makes sense so people know maybe you know, what price points look like, what, what to go after, what not to go after. And then some listings, some actual Airbnb listings of my clients that have some successful properties on the market. And then, you know, maybe we can talk about them.
• 16:56
  Speaker A: Absolutely love that.
• 16:58
  Speaker B: Atlanta is a little more northerly in the state than people think. I've got a heart right here at the airport. So it's kind of on the south side of town. And you can see this thoroughfare, i75, that runs from Florida, runs, you know, next to Macon, goes right through Atlanta. People can stay on it. They take 575 and then they jump on 515 and they are basically in my market. So I'm telling you, I go to my father in law who's down in south Florida. There's about three turns I have to make to get from his house to mine. It is literally a straight shot. A few merges here and there, but in terms of, you know, turns where I have to put on a blinker, probably only three.
• 17:38
  Speaker A: Can I just tell you, every time I go do the 10 to 75 split, which we do it often because it's Disney World and we live down, you know, I, I missed that damn turn every time. But anyway, there's not a person listening to this podcast that has not been through that Atlanta Airport. I mean that place is like the, the.
• 18:01
  Speaker B: I guarantee you there's not a suitcase that hadn't been through it.
• 18:04
  Speaker A: Right?
• 18:04
  Speaker B: You know, and again, two, it's about a two hour pull. And that depends because you gotta drive through Atlanta but about two hours with moderate traffic in town to get up here. So couple of bookmarks I've got on here. We got Blue Ridge right there, kind of in the middle. Down here we got Cherry Log. This is the ask adventure area. I tell people to be kind of north of that, you know, between Aska and the lake. It gets pretty remote. Down in here you've got Morganton. Over here we've got Mineral Bluff. Now Mineral Bluff is pretty big. While Mineral Bluff looks like it's just northeast of Blue Ridge. It's actually postal code goes all the way up here to the North Carolina and even Tennessee state lines. So it's really, when it comes to like postal codes, mailing codes, Mineral, Mineral Bluff is massive. So I tell people, stay as south as possible. Now there is some good deals up here to be had if you're willing to take a little more of a chance and buy kind of a. There's some very high end houses close to this North Carolina line that make excellent rentals. You're also close to the casinos up there. And then over here we have Epworth. And we have this corridor from Blue ridge up to McCaysville. And all through here is, is solid stuff. Easy drive to get in and out of. The one thing I don't recommend is just getting too far west of town. It kind of can get a little, you know, the roads are maybe not as, as, as smooth, let's just say. But yeah, this, this is the market we kind of want to be in. If you, you know, again, Blue Ridge right here, within 20 driving minutes, you're good to go. I'm gonna flip to, let's just say a listing. Luke, tell me, is it. Did it update on your end?
• 19:48
  Speaker A: Yes, that's an Airbnb link. Yep.
• 19:50
  Speaker B: Yeah. So this is a good client of mine, Lacy. She did a great job. Now she bought new construction. I want to show people kind of what new construction is. Now this is a, you know, a three bedroom guest here. We like to be comfortable. I know in some markets they'll try to put 24 people in a three bedroom. This is not one of the markets we're not, I tell people we're not necessarily a honeymoon destination and we're not necessarily like a big corporate retreat deal where you're going to have these massive groups. We're kind of in the middle, you know, two, three, four, five bedroom type stuff. So this is a three bedroom. She got new construction few years ago. A few years ago during COVID and you know, it's, it's a very cute house. I mean, this is what kind of people want, you know, somebody that's looking, somebody that wants to kind of get a little more upscale with their, with their cabin and have that new feel. You know, this is, this is the way to go about it. You know, you know, big living room, kind of open concept, big porches, you know, TVs everywhere. You know, this, this is really something that, you know, most people are looking for when they come up here. Not everybody. Some people, A lot of people want that classic look, you know. You know, again, king bed, super important. You know, the bunk beds in one room, that's the other master. So it's, you know, I, I don't want to harp into, you know, harp too much on a single listing, but, you know, everybody loves. We call these game day porches. You know, where you can sit out here and, you know, y' all are watching the Vols game, we're watching the Bulldogs, we're watching the UGA game here. You know, hang out, hot tub.
• 21:31
  Speaker A: Great photos. You got good photographers in the area. Do you know who took these?
• 21:35
  Speaker B: I do. We, we've got, you know, photographers to me are kind of like roofers. We got plenty of them, but you know, they kind of come and go. But yeah, we got, you know, getting, getting good photos done is not, not hard.
• 21:47
  Speaker A: Okay. Yeah, these are very, very nice photos.
• 21:50
  Speaker B: Yeah, great, great cabin. You know, not a big one. We're talking 1800 square feet, but new construction and, you know, pretty simple. Doesn't. And you know what I mean. Right here you got a beautiful, you know, kind of look, but it's not one of these that has a long range mountain view, you know, it's, it's. You can see from here you're kind of looking at the woods, you know, but it's still a lovely setting and it's a, it's a great place to be. It's quiet, easy to get to.
• 22:19
  Speaker A: Shed roof is common on these.
• 22:22
  Speaker B: I wouldn't say common. You know, the single slope roof is, you know, that comes with the new construction. You know, everybody wants, I don't know what you call them. I call these kind of the, you know, the contemporary cabins. But yeah, this shape and design is, is becoming more and more cabin common and is what people want. And if you're going to jump in the game and you really want to kickstart your, you know, your earnings, I will say the single sloped roof. The newer builds like this are going to create your snowball a little bit quicker. You know, they Just tend to be
• 23:00
  Speaker A: a little retail on it. Right. What's the new construction situation right now? Are they still building? Has it slowed down?
• 23:06
  Speaker B: So they're still building them. You can get something like this fully furnished. I've actually got one in my back pocket for 750 to 8. Fully furnished, you know, ready to go. So I've, I've got one like this. So that's kind of that price point. What, I'll pop over here. Let's see. So here's what doesn't, you know, people say, well, what doesn't make sense. Okay, here we go. One of these ultra modern cabins. This is new construction. I'm not gonna flip through the photos because it's still in the process of being built. But man, is that, is that not awesome? I mean that, that a sick looking cabin. But you know, it's a three bedroom, Luke, and they want 1.3 million for that. I'm going to tell my clients like ROI standpoint, this might not be for you, but if you want to own one of the most badass cabins around, then go for it. I'm not going to stop you. But in terms of just dollars and cents from ROI, you know, at 1.3 for a three bedroom, this doesn't make sense. I would tell my cabin, my folks, hey, let's look for something that if you want new construction, let, let's find something different. Now with that being said, you're at 1.3. Maybe what makes more. We're at 1.5. You get two more bedrooms and, and, and more bathrooms and a lot more square footage and you're already furnished and you have a good, you know, a decent view. I'm not going to call that a massive layered view, but you're already getting. And Luke, you would love this. Look at that parking infrastructure. You know, I don't know about the Smokies, but I know where we are. Having your own kind of parking pad. And hell, that's, that could be $70,000 worth of poured concrete right there alone. Having this, it keeps your cabin cleaner. You know, it's one of those deals where people aren't working. So you know, this, this style of cabin, I would say could, could work for somebody. Now let's just say we don't have 1.5. I get it. You know, maybe doing something a little bit smaller again. We got a 44 here at 875 with a big view. You know, this, you know, something like this to me is a, is a great, great jump off point. If you're wanting new construction. You've got the massive deck here. You put your TVs in there. You know, just tons of room, but, you know, a four. Four this is. And actually this one's close enough to town where you'll be on. Pretty sure you have county water, which is kind of rare.
• 25:48
  Speaker A: What's something like this rent for maybe 80 grand or something a year?
• 25:53
  Speaker B: Oh, no, I would hope this one would do better. I mean, you know, 80 grand, maybe year one, and then you're going to be up to 100, 120. Year two and year three is what. What would be my. My hopes for you, you know, so
• 26:07
  Speaker A: everything you show me is brand new. Is that. Is that.
• 26:10
  Speaker B: No, I'm gonna jump around. I'm gonna show you another. Another option here.
• 26:13
  Speaker A: So here we go.
• 26:14
  Speaker B: You know, going to something a little more classic. I like, you know, a little more.
• 26:17
  Speaker A: I like that price tag.
• 26:19
  Speaker B: Great price tag. Three. Three. 1800 square feet, five and a quarter. Matter of fact, I'm showing this house on Friday. Got a lot of people curious about this one. Got a metal roof. True log cabin. How do you tell if it's true log? We look here on the corner of the house, and you can see where the logs are dovetailed together. Now, granted, only this main portion is true log, but a lender is probably going to view it as true log. Whether your insurance company does or doesn't, that's a different story. But, you know, got a decent view. You know, you're kind of peeking through some woods. You could probably do some vista pruning through here and clean some of that up and get a solid view. Look at this parking lot, Luke. I mean, nothing gets me excited more than parking. I don't. I don't. People don't look at it when they're looking at cabins. But as somebody who's been to a lot of properties, good parking just makes me smile.
• 27:09
  Speaker A: Yeah, easy parking is. Is key.
• 27:13
  Speaker B: It is. It is where you can get three cars in there comfortably and you don't have to play shuffle them around.
• 27:18
  Speaker A: So much easier to manage because that's their first impression when we get. When they get there. And if they got to park their car at a 90, 45 degree angle, then they're calling you and they're mad, you know, know, like, well, you're in the mountains, what you expect and, you know, that kind of thing. But.
• 27:30
  Speaker B: Exactly. But once again, you know, an honest cabin here.
• 27:34
  Speaker A: Yeah, it needs a few things, but.
• 27:36
  Speaker B: Yeah. No, it's not, you know, I wouldn't say this one's ready to go, but this is not one where you got to come in and swing a hammer. You know what I mean? This is just. You need some Amazon boxes to show up and you're done. Yeah, you know, this, this just needs some decor. It's even got a little fence. So know, obviously this one's going to be, you know, it's kind of, you know, you can make this one pet friendly. Not a lot of manscape landscaping to keep up with out, you know, outside. So. Yeah, this would be. This would be one I would tell my clients, hey, let's take this one seriously. You know, a three bedroom.
• 28:10
  Speaker A: Three bedroom. That's what I'm seeing here. I mean, you know, it's. The carpet's annoying a little bit, and there's some things. But that's all. I mean, that's what I'm looking for. Honestly, I'm not really usually looking for like the ready to go property.
• 28:22
  Speaker B: And if it was ready to go, Luke, it would be 6:50, you know, I mean, that's just a reality. So I don't see washer dryers here. That's a little pain in the butt. But again, that's why it's five and a quarter and not six and a quarter.
• 28:38
  Speaker A: But I mean, you got great appliances and tops and sure, not many complaints at all. The flooring looks.
• 28:47
  Speaker B: I love the exposed beams up here. You know, I mean, it's a solid, I think, an honest little cabin. You know, this. I would tell somebody, this is. This is kind of what you're going after now.
• 28:56
  Speaker A: Let's go. What's the days on Mark? How many days on market for this exact cabin? Oh, this is new. It's 13 days.
• 29:06
  Speaker B: 13 days? Yep.
• 29:07
  Speaker A: So this is new. That's interesting.
• 29:08
  Speaker B: New team. Yep, right here. Sorry. 13 days now.
• 29:11
  Speaker A: Yeah, this one's pretty attractive. It seems like maybe they even priced it right.
• 29:15
  Speaker B: I think so. We're. We're in. In. It's. This one's never been a rental, you know, so it hasn't been beat up. It's going to be in pretty decent shape, you know.
• 29:25
  Speaker A: Do you know the listing agent?
• 29:27
  Speaker B: What's that?
• 29:27
  Speaker A: You know, that Regina, the listing agent.
• 29:29
  Speaker B: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 29:31
  Speaker A: Just curious.
• 29:32
  Speaker B: No, there's. There's about 10 of us in Blue Ridge. I. I'd say, you know how it is. 10 of us control about 90 of the market and she's. She. She's in that. I tell her most of these listings, you can fit all of us in an elevator. So we all know each other and I, I, you know, I asked her, I was like, hey, what's the rental deal? She's, oh, no, just homeowners. They need to sell.
• 29:53
  Speaker A: So they live in it.
• 29:55
  Speaker B: No, no, no, just second home, you know, vacation home for somebody. Probably the grandkids of, you know, everybody's older and moved away and they don't use it as much as they used to. So grandma and grandpa need to sell or want to sell so they can, you know, do whatever they want to. Now another one, this one. And full disclosure, this is one of my listings. Been on the market. We've had this one on for a while. But this is the type of deal that, you know, I was telling you, if you're willing to buy something that's a little more adventurous, you can get a lot more cabin for, for less money and especially get the view. This one, matter of fact, just this past spring, or actually summer, they just had the exterior of this one restain. So the, the pictures aren't going to, you know, show it. But you know, if you want that, you know, if you want that mountain view, you know, from your cabin, this is a, this is another great option. This one's about a 20 minute drive from Blue Ridge. But a super cute cabin, needs a little polish, need a little upgrade that doesn't have what I would call pop right now. But you, Luke, you know how to fix that. You know, again, right on this though,
• 31:08
  Speaker A: I'm curious, why doesn't this sell at first and, and have, have you had any offers?
• 31:14
  Speaker B: We have. So the reason, in my opinion is it's an easy gravel drive there. You've got about 10 minutes of a gravel drive to get to. It never gets steep. But as more and more stuff gets paved, a lot of people are just like, I don't, I don't want to go down a dirt road, a mountain.
• 31:36
  Speaker A: Really?
• 31:37
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 31:38
  Speaker A: That's interesting. I wouldn't care about that at all.
• 31:41
  Speaker B: I don't think most people do, you know, I really don't. But, you know, when there's enough properties on the market, you just end up gravitating to the one that may be easier to get. But we've got this one priced right, you know, and it is, it is a three bedroom. It is, it's a three two instead of a three three. But it's still an honest mount cabin and has been restained. A lot of wood's been replaced around it. So the homeowners are the type of people that take care of it. So this Is just one I wanted to, wanted to show you. Of what, what does work.
• 32:15
  Speaker A: Is it a little too far out maybe? Is that, I mean, in other words, is that why it hasn't sold?
• 32:20
  Speaker B: I wouldn't say it's too far out. I just think people don't love the drive, you know, and it's never steep. It's. It never gets, it never gets that steep. It's just, you know. But again, at 504, this one to me is right.
• 32:35
  Speaker A: This is, I like it a lot. I mean, I don't know the prices in your market that well, but this is definitely one I would, I would. The actual property itself is something that would be in my wheelhouse.
• 32:47
  Speaker B: I agree. So enough about, you know, what's on the market. I want to show you kind of some other listings that may not be, you know, new construction. Again, some great clients of ours, Luke. And I know you've talked to this family as well. Saw this one last year and they're, you know, they're, they're getting after it right now. You know, 5:33 reviews, nothing but 5o. You know, these are the type of people you want to rent a cabin from. And again, an older style cabin. It's not the, not the modern, super modern build but you know, good little carport or I shouldn't say carport. Good little parking area. Not the biggest, but you know, enough to get a few cars in there. Honest little kitchen, you know, fresh living room. You know, everything here looks clean, not big. A lot of these cabins, you know how they are, Luke. They're not, you know, you're not going to have a 10 person table at, at these cabins, but you know, a fun little place, nice little master and look through the master. You got your mountain view out there. So not going to bore you with all the pictures. Now look this one again. I want you to see this. It's got a mountain view, but it's kind of, you know, how they cut them. They, it's been cut through so it's not a wide open, you know, 180 degree mountain view. But people, they, this is fine. And when the leaves fall, it's going to be even bigger view. But again, when it comes to mountain view, as long as you see the mountains, a lot of people are going to be happy and that's going to be.
• 34:13
  Speaker A: Can I trim those trees or is that against the rules in Georgia?
• 34:16
  Speaker B: Oh, you can. You absolutely can. You know, as long as they're on your, you know, like anywhere else, as long as they're on your property, you know, this vista pruning goes a long way. I tell everybody, you know, if you've got one that needs a little vista pruning, you go spend between 3505 grand to kind of open it up just to do basic. You know, we're not going to, you know, you're not going to top trees here. That'll get you in trouble. But you know, trimming them up and thinning them out, you know, basically. Now if you got to remove a big tree, that's a little different discussion. But you know what, for most people this is fine. This is, you know, this, this works. You know, you don't have to have that wide open because look, if that view was wide open, then you're talking about a million dollar view. Pool table room, arcade. I wish it wasn't Pac Man. I wish it was, you know, something NBA Jam. But it has everything you need, you know, just the honest again. I love what they did. They made it, they made the outside look fun and kind of busy. And you know, you come down here to the fire pit, you can go into the screened in porch, you can hang out on this level. If you're up here on the master, you got this area. So. And all within 15 minutes of downtown. So again, I call this kind of your, just your normal do gooder. You know, it's what people are looking for. Here's another property. This one is actually for sale. We just took it off the market. They're gonna, they're gonna stay there themselves, but it's gonna go back on the market. This is a unique, this was a custom home and it does fairly well. It's already making around 80 grand a year. They've got it. I think they're going to take somewhere around 640 for it. Okay, but this is a three two. And I want to step into it. So you can see it's a little different. It's got a really, really big living room. Good sized living room area. What's unique is it's, is it's got a bedroom. Number one is kind of a normal bedroom, but then there's another bedroom off of this big bunk room. So there's this huge bunk room and off of it is another room with a king bed in there. But people come here because they love this, you know, a, they love the furniture and it's a, it's an honest little house that's comfortably going to sleep eight people and nobody's got to be on a couch.
• 36:45
  Speaker A: All right, very nice flooring I love the floors. Oh, yeah.
• 36:52
  Speaker B: You know, and it doesn't have a big view.
• 36:53
  Speaker A: This guy.
• 36:54
  Speaker B: This isn't. This isn't one of those. With a big view, but it's got, you know, it's got plenty of parking around the house.
• 37:01
  Speaker A: He needs a photographer for sure.
• 37:04
  Speaker B: Some of the fixtures are a little. Yeah, need to be a little smoothed out. I agree with you.
• 37:09
  Speaker A: I mean, there's smoking.
• 37:11
  Speaker B: There's some good pictures. You know, it's got its own little washroom, but, man, I love this place. And. And again, they're. They're. They're. They're looking to sell. They want to buy a bigger cabin. So, you know, if. If something like this is what you're into, then, you know, I think they're gonna. They take 640 for this one. And it's got that classic kind of modern style that everybody wants with the. The prowl front. You got your hot tub over here. This one's. Look, I don't sell many cabins that are ready to go. This one's ready to go. I just tell people, hey, when you buy it, put your own touch on it, put your own spin on it. So. Great place, though. I mean, wouldn't want to be there.
• 37:54
  Speaker A: But in general, is it common to see something that's been sitting on the market for, like, a year?
• 38:02
  Speaker B: Yes and no. You know, sometimes. You know how it is, Luke. It depends on what's on the market.
• 38:10
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 38:10
  Speaker B: You know, two years ago, three years ago, I would say, you know, four years ago. No. Now it can be, you know, they can be out there for whatever reason because there's enough inventory out there. We're one of those areas where it's very shoppable. You know, you're not like, oh, crap, here's the. Here's that one house in that one area that everybody needs to be in here. You know, there's enough out there to where buyers are picky, you know, so it just. It is what it is. And sometimes if I'm a buyer, can
• 38:42
  Speaker A: I come in swinging? Like, can I go way under asking and see what happens, or am I just making people mad?
• 38:50
  Speaker B: I mean, Luke, if. If I knew the answer to that.
• 38:56
  Speaker A: In other words, if I'm your buyer and I come to you and I say, hey, I kind of like this one, but I'm looking for a smoking deal. Can I, you know, offer something?
• 39:05
  Speaker B: What I. I. I would tell my client, let's put it in writing and let's send it to them. You know, what are the. What's the worst they're going to tell us no.
• 39:14
  Speaker A: Yeah, well, especially if there's three or four options, right. You know, you just pick the one you like the most and then next thing you know, the one you got the better deal on is the one you like the most in some cases. You know, that's right. That's where I'm at right now. I'm shopping right now on the beach. Downside being down here where I'm at, where I'm shopping right now, there's not a lot of stuff that needs work and is better price because people aren't really looking to do the work down here. A lot, a lot of, you know, 10 years or less properties.
• 39:47
  Speaker B: So, you know, where we have a soft spot in the market right now is, and I'll be honest with you, it's hard to move. It is those houses, you know, 15 to 25 years old, good cabins, you know, 25 to 15 years old without a big, without a big view. They just kind of sit, you know, everybody right now is chasing a view. And I don't blame them. You know, I mean, that's, that's, that's why I tell people when people come to the mountains, they want to see the mountains. Right. I mean, you can't blame somebody for that. Let me show you, let me show you one more and kind of step down even lower in price point. That may be, you know, just as attainable for, for, for some people. So this little cabin here, this is actually in L, A J. Okay. Ella J is kind of a sister market to Blue Ridge. I tell people there it cost, you know, it costs 20% less and makes about 20% less. Not quite as desirable, but still can be a great area to buy in. You just have to kind of put up with some HOAs. Now this one is in a big HOA. It's in walnut Mountain. But they've kind of changed their gate situation and so it's, it's a lot more accessible to get in and out of there. So right now there's really not any massive rental encumbrances in this community. So this is an older cabin. Okay. And it's, you know, I wouldn't say, you know, with an old, you know, kind of old school design. Yep. It's got some carpet on it, but, man, just a fun place to be, you know, an honest cabin at a much lower price point. It's got these little tiny bedrooms, but that's fine. You put two kids in here, you know, the, you know, the queen of England's not coming here. But that's not what it's, you know, that's not who this cabin's for. I love that, you know. Yes, absolutely. This is like, you know, retail. Stack it high, sell it cheap, man. This is a, A good, honest cabin, you know, smaller little bedroom here, you know, but you got to, you know, and then you've got a nice little outdoor.
• 42:05
  Speaker A: This looks like something I would rent.
• 42:07
  Speaker B: Yeah. And I think most people with kids would love to come to this because you feel like you're at an old school cabin. And it does have a, you know, it does have a regular bedroom. You know, here you've kind of got the master, but the, the. The secondary and tertiary bedroom is, you know, exact. They're. They're perfect for what this cabin is. And again, cool little spot. Park your car there. Got to. You kind of got yourself a little bit of a mountain view in, In a, In a nice community. Here we are, you know, three, one for. For a single family, this is like the perfect setup. And yeah, there's one bathroom, but, man, if you're looking to get in the game at $400,000, like, this is where you go. This is the type of thing you need to be looking for. And I'm with you, man, when I'm looking for something for my kids. We're. We're rugged folks, man. We don't. I don't have to have, you know, an $8,000 mattress for my.
• 43:10
  Speaker A: From a. Buyers that are looking for the greatest deal of the century. Let's break this one down a little bit. So 22 days on market, Is that the first go round?
• 43:18
  Speaker B: Yeah, we just, we just put it up three weeks ago.
• 43:20
  Speaker A: Okay, so we don't have a lot of data on this one because it's just. Just recently up for sale.
• 43:24
  Speaker B: That's right.
• 43:25
  Speaker A: Have you had much activity?
• 43:27
  Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, people are calling, hey, does it come with everything? Hey, where is it? Where is it? Yeah, and we've had some showings, but, you know, everybody's just picky, you know, have got. I've got zero negative feedback on it, so.
• 43:37
  Speaker A: Okay. Okay, that's good info. You know, for the folks that are listening to this in June or whatever and want to get a taste of what the market was like in the wintertime, you know, that kind of thing.
• 43:48
  Speaker B: Yeah, that's right.
• 43:50
  Speaker A: Let me, let me ask you a question.
• 43:52
  Speaker B: Sure.
• 43:53
  Speaker A: What, what would you say is the biggest differences between now and the peak Covid times just in general
• 44:02
  Speaker B: in terms
• 44:03
  Speaker A: of buying, in terms of anything in the world in general, but yes.
• 44:08
  Speaker B: So I think people are. They're a lot more analytical. I keep saying the word picky, and that's from the renting and from the buying standpoint. You know, like you said earlier, the money's not, you know, falling out of the sky like it once was, so people have to be a little more measured with what they do. So, you know, once again, there's still plenty of people. Here you go. You go downtown. Nothing's really slowed down. Cleaning crews are busy. Everybody, you know, it's business as usual. I. I will say it's, you know, it's more competitive.
• 44:49
  Speaker A: All right, here we are. We are on the greatest show on the planet with. With Yak. I love, love getting together with this guy. He's a fun guy to talk to. And we're going to talk about real estate in North Georgia today. North. North. North Georgia Real estate podcast, whatever the hell you want to call it. And. Yeah, man, what's going on? It's holiday season. How you doing?
• 45:12
  Speaker B: Absolutely. Going well. Got got Thanksgiving behind us and bring on Christmas, you know, so getting the kids settled in, taking care of all that mess and making sure Santa knows what to do. But other than that, it's. It's real estate.
• 45:27
  Speaker A: My kids are seven and five and. And it's hard to buy them Christmas gifts a week because, you know, I like to get them the catalogs, like the Walmart catalog and Amazon has one now in Target. I actually have them right here. But the problem is at their age, they flip through. They. They literally circle every single thing in there.
• 45:46
  Speaker B: Oh, yeah, in there, been there, done that.
• 45:48
  Speaker A: I'm trying to get them to get excited about, like, one or two things that. That can really light up about, but I think there may. I don't know, May they live that Disney World life. So it's hard to get them excited about anything when we go to Disney World all the time. Right.
• 46:02
  Speaker B: Well, now my. Mine have. Have earmarked a few big ticket items, and we take care of that and then, you know, some stocking stuffers and little things to go around it. So I like the idea of one big thing. It makes it easier, I think, on mom and dad, too, or Santa, for that matter.
• 46:15
  Speaker A: Yeah. And we're always doing Christmas, usually not anywhere near where we live. So then you got to figure out how to get this stuff back home. You know, there's that.
• 46:23
  Speaker B: Yeah, certainly that part of it.
• 46:25
  Speaker A: Well, anyway, for those of you that are listening to this in June, I'm sorry about that, but love Christmas. And that's where we're at in life as. As of the recording of this podcast. And speaking of where we're at in life, the economy stinks. You know, for the most part. We got some issues out there. The stock market's doing well, Interest rates are going down, so there's some positive stuff going on. But it does seem like Average Joe is somewhat, you know, I don't want to use the word broke, but hurting a little bit right now. And, and it's. Let's, let's be real. First of all, 2022 is long gone. The heyday of money falling out of the sky is long gone. But,
• 47:04
  Speaker B: Luke, let me cut you off.
• 47:06
  Speaker A: Yeah, I was going to say, don't make me sound like Debbie Doubter.
• 47:08
  Speaker B: I mean, he making me feel bad. Do you think the economy really stinks or do you think it's just kind of more normal? I mean, is that fair? You know, I mean, like you said, money's not falling out. Just because it's not falling out of the sky anymore doesn't mean it's not there. Right?
• 47:21
  Speaker A: I don't know. That's the problem. I, I do tons of research on this all day, every day and listen to podcasts and news and everything and, and I don't know what the hell's going on out there because all signs are pointing to, to things being pretty okay. But, you know, people aren't spending as much money in certain, certain aspects of their lives. It seems like now again, I'm back to Disney World. I was just there and it was jam packed. And I'm like, man, everybody here spent at least five grand, so maybe they do have money. I don't know. Let's bring that into North Georgia real estate. What are you seeing? Are people buying stuff or is it slow?
• 47:58
  Speaker B: It's definitely slowed down. You know, you don't have to get as, you know, aggressive. Let's say as it was three or four years ago, where. Oh, crap, when hits the market, let's jump on it. Now, I will say this. We are a smaller market, so when a good property shows up at a good price, you know, there could be a multiple offer situation. You know, it's not happening a ton. But look, I, I tell everybody, people think it's an art to find a good house at a good price. If you stare at Zillow listings long enough, Luke, me and you can find one in, I don't know, Lawrenceburg, Oklahoma. You know what I mean? You know, it's not that hard to do, right? I mean, a good house, when you're looking at all the comparables in the area at a good price, it's. It's not that difficult to do. So I tell everybody, if you've identified it as a good house at a good price, I'm willing to bet you I got multiple clients that are doing the same thing. Right? And it's just the way the world works. But with that being said, I do think there's a lot of overpriced listings out there. A lot of people bought at the peak of the market. They didn't have probably the resources that we provide to them. You know, they. They bought a property that they wanted to use as a rental primarily, and they probably bought it and paid too much for it.