Gatlinburg Real Estate Blog

My family recently spent a week of much needed vacation time at Folly Beach, just outside of Charleston, South Carolina. I guess if you live in the mountains, you vacation in a beach community and sometimes our Gatlinburg area guests make their primary residences in coastal areas. Regardless of the area, some rules regarding vacation rentals seem to be universal. Rental agencies have to cater to picky guests who want everything to be nearly perfect, and owners are sometimes reluctant to make repairs. The condo we rented was in a very nice development which is directly on the oceanfront and the complex is only about 10 years old. The disappointment was that the condo had NOT been kept up to the condition that I expect. The sheets seemed scratchy, the mattress in our room was hard, and the balcony furniture was very cheap when new and in bad need of replacement. The kitchen had been well stocked at one point but several of the pots & pans and cooking utensils were worn or broken. Th...

My family recently spent a week of much needed vacation time at Folly Beach, just outside of Charleston, South Carolina. I guess if you live in the mountains, you vacation in a beach community and sometimes our Gatlinburg area guests make their primary residences in coastal areas. Regardless of the area, some rules regarding vacation rentals seem to be universal. Rental agencies have to cater to picky guests who want everything to be nearly perfect, and owners are sometimes reluctant to make repairs. The condo we rented was in a very nice development which is directly on the oceanfront and the complex is only about 10 years old. The disappointment was that the condo had NOT been kept up to the condition that I expect. The sheets seemed scratchy, the mattress in our room was hard, and the balcony furniture was very cheap when new and in bad need of replacement. The kitchen had been well stocked at one point but several of the pots & pans and cooking utensils were worn or broken. ...

The answer is PLENTY! Our family's recent vacation to Folly Beach, near Charleston, was very instructive with regard to what is most important to our guests visiting the Smoky Mountains. We waited a little too late to make the final decision that we were in fact going to Charleston and this meant that there weren't a lot of choices that remained available... Our original plan was to rent a single large beach front home that would accommodate our good sized extended family. Because we also wanted an on property pool our choices were pretty well eliminated. The next best option was a pair of condominium units but again our delay in booking didn't serve us well. Wading through dozens of websites, we finally found two 3 bedroom 3 bath condo units that were available for the week that we wanted to travel. The website that we ended up booking our trip on led us to properties managed by Fred Holland Real Estate of Folly Beach, a name that will live (for me at least) in infamy. Wh...

The answer is PLENTY! Our family's recent vacation to Folly Beach, near Charleston, was very instructive with regard to what is most important to our guests visiting the Smoky Mountains. We waited a little too late to make the final decision that we were in fact going to Charleston and this meant that there weren't a lot of choices that remained available... Our original plan was to rent a single large beach front home that would accommodate our good sized extended family. Because we also wanted an on property pool our choices were pretty well eliminated. The next best option was a pair of condominium units but again our delay in booking didn't serve us well. Wading through dozens of websites, we finally found two 3 bedroom 3 bath condo units that were available for the week that we wanted to travel. The website that we ended up booking our trip on led us to properties managed by Fred Holland Real Estate of Folly Beach, a name that will live (for me at least) in infamy...