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My husband and I are going to be taking a trip up to WNC this fall. We currently live in San Antonio, TX but our daughter is probably going to UNCSA for Film. We can live anywhere with our jobs, I hate Texas summers and LOVE fall foliage, four seasons and would like to see snow more than once every 20 years. I have been doing some research and I found a builder out of Black Mountain called New Earth Shelters. They build the smaller modern cabin look we want. Does anyone know anything about them? Our plan is to get 5-10 acres of land, have someone do the land prep, foundation, piping and build the frame then we will do all the inside work ourselves. I am sure we will need a well/septic too. I would love any advice, recommendations and tips you have. I also would take any advice on realtors and where to look for land. Counties I looked at on LandWatch were Buncombe, Haywood, Ashe, Wilkes, Watauga, Caldwell, Henderson, Mitchell, Yancey, McDowell, Alleghany and Transylvania. We are currently in the Hill Country in a 3200 sqft $400K house which is in a gated community at 2.2% property tax and an expensive HOA. I am so over the expensive big house thing. We want to have nice land and downgrade the house size to 1500 sqft or so instead and save a ton on doing all the inside build ourselves. Am I crazy in thinking I can get this accomplished in WNC?
My husband and I are going to be taking a trip up to WNC this fall. We currently live in San Antonio, TX but our daughter is probably going to UNCSA for Film. We can live anywhere with our jobs, I hate Texas summers and LOVE fall foliage, four seasons and would like to see snow more than once every 20 years. I have been doing some research and I found a builder out of Black Mountain called New Earth Shelters. They build the smaller modern cabin look we want. Does anyone know anything about them? Our plan is to get 5-10 acres of land, have someone do the land prep, foundation, piping and build the frame then we will do all the inside work ourselves. I am sure we will need a well/septic too. I would love any advice, recommendations and tips you have. I also would take any advice on realtors and where to look for land. Counties I looked at on LandWatch were Buncombe, Haywood, Ashe, Wilkes, Watauga, Caldwell, Henderson, Mitchell, Yancey, McDowell, Alleghany and Transylvania. We are currently in the Hill Country in a 3200 sqft $400K house which is in a gated community at 2.2% property tax and an expensive HOA. I am so over the expensive big house thing. We want to have nice land and downgrade the house size to 1500 sqft or so instead and save a ton on doing all the inside build ourselves. Am I crazy in thinking I can get this accomplished in WNC?
It is possible; land prices are very high for acreage. Strongly suggest you contact that builder who may already own some land. Preferably, however, contact a Realtor who specializes in the Black Mountain area, or any other area that you might be interested in. www.realtor.com will be your best bet. Or, the local newspapers, especially on Sundays. www.citizen-times.com (Asheville area paper). Best wishes.
Since you have listed a fairly broad list of counties in which you may have an interest, I would suggest that you first spend as much time as possible just visiting each area and getting a feel for the areas that "speak to you." Narrow it down a bit before you start searching specific properties.... UNLESS you just happen to stumble on that PERFECT piece of property first.
Depending on your budget, you should be able to find a number of choices of suitable properties in many of the counties you've listed. Land prices aren't necessarily HIGH in all of your target counties... Ashe, Alleghany, Wilkes, Caldwell, Mitchell, Yancey, McDowell are probably the ones with better values for land.
Thank you both. We are going to visit the different areas during our trip and see how it feels. We can then come back again in the spring once we narrow it down. I just wasn't sure if I should be looking at certain areas over others (especially since I will need a good internet connection for work but want to live outside the city with wooded land). We don't have the luxury anymore of getting land here in the Texas Hill County without requirements of 2500+ sqft housing, 75%+ masonry, large HOA dues and no guest houses on property. I am hoping WNC is different since we want around a 1500 sqft modern cabin, detatched workshop/garage and guest house for my mother.
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I have been doing some research and I found a builder out of Black Mountain called New Earth Shelters. They build the smaller modern cabin look we want. Does anyone know anything about them? Our plan is to get 5-10 acres of land, have someone do the land prep, foundation, piping and build the frame then we will do all the inside work ourselves. I am sure we will need a well/septic too. I would love any advice, recommendations and tips you have. I also would take any advice on realtors and where to look for land. Counties I looked at on LandWatch were Buncombe, Haywood, Ashe, Wilkes, Watauga, Caldwell, Henderson, Mitchell, Yancey, McDowell, Alleghany and Transylvania. We are currently in the Hill Country in a 3200 sqft $400K house which is in a gated community at 2.2% property tax and an expensive HOA. I am so over the expensive big house thing. We want to have nice land and downgrade the house size to 1500 sqft or so instead and save a ton on doing all the inside build ourselves. Am I crazy in thinking I can get this accomplished in WNC?
