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There will be a lot of new development/new buildings - both businesses and homes. This new stuff should increase the overall value of the area because newer buildings are worth more.
There might be some drop as some people panic and pull out. But it won't be long and the tourist economy will be back. That's what drives that area anyway and in spite of the damage, the large scale area of the Great Smokies is largely unaffected.
My only possible insights come from our experiences here in New Orleans after the Katrina disaster.
After Katrina, the newspapers said that the price of housing here in New Orleans was way up for undamaged houses. People needed someplace habitable to stay while they repaired their half destroyed homes, rebuilt, or whatever. Those with insurance didn't want to just abandon their homes, even if they were planning to leave forever. They wanted to rebuild with insurance money, and then sell and leave (or stay). All of this takes time.
Despite the fact that the price of undamaged houses went up, they were rare and so many were damaged that the average selling price might have gone down for a while. The population here declined, but since there were so few habitable houses they were in high demand right after the storm.
Personally, I had an undamaged home and could have made some money selling it. But rents were sky high and I had to live here because my job was here. So I didn't sell.
I think you will be fine buying there now if you still want the house.
The community make take a while before it returns to what it was, depending on how much damage they suffered. I haven't read a lot about it but I gather it was pretty bad? So sad. Anyway, living in a badly damaged/crippled community like Gatlinburg probably is, is no walk in the park until they get the infrastructure and businesses repaired. For example, we didn't have our first regular trash pickup in my particular neighborhood until the 4th month after Katrina, so I had to haul my trash and storm debris and whatever down to the dump myself, in the trunk of my car. Same for getting the mail. It didn't come regularly at all and much of it never came during that time. But eventually it returned to normal and all that just seems like a bad dream. I love living here now.
Well, it looks like it might not happen anyway. Our lender has informed us that all the appraisers are turning appraisals down right now and refuse to do any until the dust settles (whatever that means), so they aren't sure things will work out in time. Thanks for all the comments.
That's too bad. Maybe it just wasn't meant to be. Good Luck.
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