Buyers in the short-term rental cabin market around Broken Bow and Hochatown, Oklahoma, have less leverage than they did a year ago. In 2025, active listings climbed past 325. With that much choice, buyers could negotiate roughly 6% to 10% off the asking price, with the high end reserved for extreme cases, by the rough estimate of Ashly Kuma, a real estate agent who has worked the market since 2019. Inventory has since fallen below 250, according to MLS figures Kuma pulled this fall. Well-priced cabins are going under contract in less than two weeks, and multiple-offer situations have returned for the first time in a while.
Negotiation hasn’t disappeared, but sellers are giving up less. “It’s not that they’re not willing to negotiate; it’s just they don’t have to,” Kuma says.
Part of the reason buyers have less room is that much of the discount has already been taken. During the years of excess inventory, sellers chased prices downward, and some cabins sat on the market for two years or more. Kuma says that phase has largely run its course. Local agents now have a clearer read on where cabins should be priced, so listings come to market closer to what buyers will pay. The smaller discounts reflect both fewer listings and more realistic asking prices. Buyers are paying near asking, but on prices that have already come down.
The sellers on the other side of these deals include owners who bought at the top. Cabins purchased from 2020 through 2022 often underperformed for several years after the pandemic, Kuma says, as travelers went back to cruises and international trips. Some of those owners are now listing. Other sellers bought a decade or more ago and are scaling back their investments as their own lives change. A third group builds new cabins and routinely sells within the first year or two after completion.
Tighter inventory hasn’t lifted every listing. Kuma names four factors that separate cabins that sell quickly from those that sit: correct pricing, privacy on the lot, a strong 12-month rental history, and amenities that set a cabin apart. Buyers are drawn to in-ground pools, sports courts, golf simulators, and outdoor movie theaters. “You can’t just have a cabin with a fire pit,” Kuma says. Rental history matters because buyers are acquiring an income stream, and a year of documented bookings is the most direct evidence of what a cabin can earn.
Location relative to Hochatown’s city limits adds another variable. Since the town incorporated in 2022, cabins inside its limits have required a short-term rental license and carry a 3% sales tax and a 4% lodging tax, both charged to renters rather than paid by owners. Subdivisions just outside town carry neither, and Kuma says that gives some buyers new to the market pause. In her experience, the requirements haven’t killed deals, since licensing is handled online and the cost is modest.
The bigger question is whether renters will pay the added taxes for a cabin closer to town. Kuma’s view is that they do. She says cabins inside the city limits generally outperform those outside because they’re closer to Hochatown’s wineries, boutiques, and entertainment, though a few developments outside town also do very well. Incorporation has also brought a fire department, a police department, and ongoing paving of the area’s gravel roads.
With less room on price, flexibility has shifted to deal terms. Sellers commonly contribute toward a buyer’s closing costs or toward improvements after closing, such as adding a pool. Owner financing is less common and depends on the individual seller. “I don’t have a lot of clients who like to own their carry,” Kuma says. Most prefer a clean break at closing. Her advice to sellers is to focus on the amount they walk away with rather than how the deal is structured. “Don’t get tangled up in the details,” she tells them. “Let’s just work it out.”
All of these negotiations rest on visitor demand, and in Hochatown there is little else to fall back on. Unlike short-term rental markets where rentals sit alongside other industries, Hochatown’s economy runs almost entirely on visitors. Service providers, town government, and the Choctaw Nation, which has invested in infrastructure and event spaces, all serve that demand, and highway expansion and new commercial development are underway. That concentration means cabin values move with travel demand, as the slump after the pandemic travel surge showed.
What Kuma sees supporting demand now is the breadth of the renter base. Visitors come from Dallas, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, western Arkansas, and Shreveport, Louisiana, most within about a four-hour drive, and she expects visitor numbers to keep rising as the Dallas area grows. Ownership has broadened as well. Owners from Collin County, north of Dallas, once made up roughly 90% of the market, by Kuma’s estimate. She now works with buyers from Ohio, California, Illinois, and Florida who may rarely visit their cabins.
Kuma dates the current upturn to the third quarter of 2025. After a lull in January, 2026 has been the market’s strongest year for sales in about three years. Her description of where that leaves buyers and sellers is measured. “Sellers are very motivated to sell, but they’re not giving away cabins right now,” she says. “It’s a very fair deal and a more even playing field.”
About the Expert: Ashly Kuma is a real estate agent with the Kuma Cabins Team at eXp Realty in Hochatown, Oklahoma, specializing in luxury short-term rental cabins in the Broken Bow and Hochatown area.
This article is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or investment advice. The views and opinions expressed herein reflect those of the individuals quoted and do not represent an endorsement of any company, product, or service mentioned. Readers should conduct their own due diligence and consult qualified professionals before making any investment decisions.
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