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I think the OP needs to study GOOG maps closely, do some reading here on this forum about different towns/areas/place names, look at realty sites and make a few to several trips west for looking around.
I plugged in Asheville for a center point, only as everyone has heard, knows of it...do some zooming in, moving around on map and use both sat and map looks to come up with places to consider; there are literally dozens of towns that fit your list of places to look and live, imo. https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Ashev...h+Carolina&z=8
That ~ "$300k" is a nice round number and it should get some housing in some parts of western NC, in some areas...if that sounds smartazz it isn't meant to be. If that includes land in looking to build that 'cabin style home', it will be difficult to impossible budget-wise. Existing homes are the usual/current better deal, imo, and there are literally hundreds to thousands in that price range that vary from wouldn't live in them to pretty good.
Purusing the several western NC realty sites is a great start; I would save the "connecting with the RE person/company" and that relationship until one has done some serious looking at any/all of those many western NC oriented RE sites...
The OP has geography and time on their side: they live in NC, (albeit a long way east), and can make the several few days trips needed to find a 'move to' location, and they appear to have time. I would invest as much time and effort as required and do some background reading on any 'place/town' via Search Tab upper right hand corner as in Search This Forum on the western NC board. My 50Cts...
GL, mD
Brevard, in Transylvania County, is nice. Their hospital looks good (we looked at it when considering a second home in the area, especially Connestee Falls; my wife is a physician so looked carefully at their facilities; Asheville has a much larger hospital). We saw several nice homes there, and near Hendersonville, for around $300k. Not sure about cabin homes, however.
I have been watching homes listed for several yrs. now. Realtor dot com is a great place to start. Or contact the local realtor association for assistance in finding a Realtor in the area if you need one. Anyway........ I am not seeing a big dip in pricing like we had here in Fl. I had one Realtor in NC tell me they are about a year behind us in Fl. Not sure how true that is or not. All I know is hubby and I are itching to get here as soon as we can and I have not seen the prices drop in a big way like they have here. But...I think you could get a decent home in the 250-300ish K range. Good luck............... my heart is still in the WNC Mountains!
I don't think we will see a huge price drop like Fla. I left Florida ten years ago when my house I paid $50,000 for in PSL sold for $250,000 just a few years later. We (in WNC) have much slower growth than Fla did and our homes weren't over-inflated to the extent that Fla's were and there weren't developers coming in and building thousands of homes before they were sold. My house here is still worth more than what I paid or it. It did drop for a few years according to Zillow, but only by a few thousand dollars. It's been steadily climbing back up again for a year or so. Slowly, but surely.
YouTube has posted video's of most areas, which should be a good primer if you're unfamiliar.
If my kids were still young and I was doing such a search, I'd look into what the local teenagers do to keep busy. One good source is the local sheriff.
Earlier this year, I bought a completely renovated 1,500 sf rancher in North Asheville near Beaver Lake. It's not a cabin in the woods, but I have nearly zero traffic, lots of trees, all kinds of birds, privacy and a supermarket, ACE Hardware and other conveniences three minutes away. I'm a three minute walk to the bus stop and downtown is two miles distant. I too wanted a log cabin with long views, peace, quiet and solitude. I'm glad I landed where I did. Log cabins can be rented all over WNC. If you opt to buy one, I hope it's your dream come true.
I'm driving to Cashiers tomorrow and will drive through and stop in Sylva. Let me know if you'd like my impressions...
That ~ "$300k" is a nice round number and it should get some housing in some parts of western NC, in some areas...if that sounds smartazz it isn't meant to be. If that includes land in looking to build that 'cabin style home', it will be difficult to impossible budget-wise. Existing homes are the usual/current better deal, imo, and there are literally hundreds to thousands in that price range that vary from wouldn't live in them to pretty good.
I was just doing a real estate search in my area of Hiawassee/Young Harris, GA. From time-to-time, I like to see how prices are doing. $300,000 would get you a very nice house here. They must have dropped some more recently. I was actually in shock tonight at several houses in the $250,000 to $270,000 range that were not just "nice"; they were outstanding.
You could never find them anywhere near Asheville.
Motor David, I agree with you about existing homes versus building. At $300,000 you can get a better existing house than you can build at that price.
My purchase was $189 psf. The house includes ownership of Beaver Lake (460 participants), and it's in one of the most desireabe areas, within the city limits, quiet, secuded and two miles from city center. My city property taxes mirror/double the county ascessment, but it's all a package. Start stripping that down, say outside the city limits, further from city center, less detail and modernization of the house.... I've seen nice comparable (structure and lot wise) homes within a half hour's drive of city center for $87 psf. I looik at the current cost to rebuild whatever house I'm looking at, plus lot. If it all makes sense, and the location is right, I'll move on it. I don't know what the average price per square foot is. I've heard cost to build, including permits and the assorted tests can run from $200 psf and up. I'm talking licensed contractor with licensed subs, worker's comp., etc. I moved here from Southern California where my house took a 40% hit. 40% of $940,000. Asheville home prices took a slight hit, but nothing like that. For me, it was a paper hit. Thank God.
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