This property has a lot of great potential. All of the adults on our trip agreed that we would love to actually own the place. The cabin’s layout was great. Plenty of room. Good location. Really nice views, and the outdoor kitchen/deck area was amazing. However, there are issues:
1- several of the mattresses need replaced, especially I can speak to the master bedroom on the main floor. Horrible mattress…painful to sleep on…old…really old.
2. The internet. The owner has a sign up about the internet being only for checking emails and doing basic online searching. It goes on to say something along the lines of you are here for the mountains, not the internet and you can’t expect to have good internet here in the mountains. I suppose that sounds reasonable…except that it isn’t. We have been going to the Smokies for about 25 years now. Starting about 10 years ago, high speed internet became common place in the rental units we were finding. We have stayed much further out, in much more remote areas and never had internet service this bad. In this day-and-age, high speed internet should be the expectation. Not some snarky comment telling you to get over the fact that you don’t have it.
3- the online pictures (at least at the time we viewed them for making our rental) lead you to believe there are two hot tubs. There is only one. One hot tub isn’t a big deal other than the fact that the pics have you expecting to find two.
4- the listing makes mention of high end finishings. Not so much. Besides the mattresses that need replaced, lots of the furniture was clearly past it’s life expectancy. Some things were high end, like the kitchen appliance and the outdoor space, but overall, I can’t agree with the idea of high end finishings. It honestly has the feel of a “flip”…buy a mess…put some lipstick on it and sell for a profit…or in this case, rent it out.
5- the front door needs serious attention. It is warped to the point that the electronic lock can’t operate properly. You have to push/pull on it to allow the lock to work. The little kids in our group were unable to open it. That could be a serious safety issue in an emergency.
6- The swing set in the front yard isn’t anchored properly.
7- one of the upstairs bathroom had no blinds/curtains on the window.
Overall, the place has real potential. Unfortunately it gives you the sense that this is only an investment and the owner has probably never tried staying there themselves for any length of time.