GATLINBURG VACATION HOME DEVELOPMENT AHEAD OF SALES PROJECTIONS

While general real estate is experiencing a serious slowdown in most parts of the country, one residential development in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, is happily exceeding its sales projections by over 50%.
 

White Oak Lodge and Resort is an enclave of 60 vacation log cabins situated near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Developed by Global Connections, Inc., sales of the homes began in September 2006 with projections for 20 units to be sold during the first year. Within four months, however, over half of the projection had been sold, with contracts completed on 15 homes. This was done without the benefit of a model for the first few months and without reducing prices, which range from $259,000 to $320,000 for the two- and three-bedroom fully furnished vacation log cabins.

 

Sales were conducted on sight and through a series of Senior Expo and Home & Garden shows throughout the Southeast, with a significant number of buyers coming from Florida. All of the cabins were purchased as vacation homes and will not become the buyers’ primary residence. According to Bill Papaik, Sales Manager for the development, “I believe a great deal of our success has come from the fact that people know we have a limited number of homes for sale, the prices are highly affordable for most families and the homes are completely furnished with high quality, contemporary interiors. The location, ten miles from Gatlinburg is the icing on the cake, along with the fact that we are one of a handful of properties with city water and sewer utilities.”
 

Each log cabin home includes a master suite with a whirlpool bath, loft game room complete with pool table, covered front porch and screened-in back porch with hot tub, custom cabinets, stone fireplace, and flat-screen televisions with DVD players.
 

Home owners at the White Oak Lodge and Resort enjoy a 66’ by 37’ pool with two grottos, one of which features a sunken lounge with concrete couch and a central fire pit, providing year round usage. A 1,000 square foot deck is accessible by a stepping stone path through a water garden. The property’s “back yard” is steps away from the 800-square mile Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which welcomes nine million annual visitors.
 

Tom Lyons, President of Global Connections, directs development of the property, and is now predicting a sell out during 2007. “After nearly 20 years of serving the traveling public, we learned what people want in vacation accommodations and applied this knowledge to the design of the White Oak Lodge and Resort,” he said
 

As one of the nation’s most respected travel clubs, Global Connections has previously developed vacation properties in several locations in California, Florida, Hawaii and Colorado. Many of these were existing buildings or units that Global renovated prior to placing them in their travel club network.
 

Headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, the 19-year old travel club is a credit-based club product that offers value added enhancements, which includes a buying service, and enjoys a membership base of over 100,000. During 2006, GVC members used over 30,000 weeks in almost 700 resorts located from the Midwest to the Caribbean.
 

Global Connections owns condominium resorts and individual units in several states with property management divisions to oversee them. Partner alliances with timeshare resort developers, exchange and cruise organizations provide on-demand locations for its member base. Global Connections’ 17 sales centers are located in 15 states and are distributors of its travel club product, Global Discovery Vacations (GDV). Global provides specialized training on the GDV product and its services and maintains close relationships with each sales distributor.WWW.WHITEOAKLODGEANDRESORT.COM