Seeking Land not in Development (Asheville, Waynesville: for sale, real estate, rent)

[mtnwannabee]

We're looking for 2+ acres with mountain view not in a development. We're seeking flat buildable land with room for a backyard or garden, a main cottage and a guest cottage. Prefer valley/pastoral setting to top of mountain. Can anyone recommend an area to look or someone who knows land well? We want to be within an hour of Asheville but would consider any area a similar distance from a city with things to do. We've met several 'local' realtors who seem to know less than we do. Thanks for any tips.

[motordavid]

Have you perused some of the numerous western NC RE sites?
Most of them seem to have many lots/pieces of land for sale...
I know that the Waynesville/Maggie Valley area RE people, that
"focus" on this area, have quite a few on their sites, fwiw.

"An hour" radius from Asheville is a big geo. area; I have to think
there are literally hundreds of parcels of land for sale, in your
category, in that wide of an area.

"Mountain" can mean 2,800 to 6,000 ft elevation. There are few
"developments" with any steam left, west of Asheville...
GL, mD

[young92]

Yeah, a lot of realtors will represent you when selling land and they really know nothing about land. Land has its own quirks. There are several good realtors in the Weaverville / Mars Hill area if you look for land in that area. Land sales is what paid the bills for a lot of these people. Interview a realtor just like you would a plumber or electrician. Ask them questions. Ask what kind of experience they have with land. Some things they should be able to talk to you about:

- Surveys - one on file? Need a new one? Cost?
- Septic Tanks - traditional vs pumped
- Perc Tests - what does the county require, amount of time needed, do you need pits dug for the tests
- Well Water - not something you can test for ahead of time but what kind of wells do the neighbors have? Cost? How deep?
- Excavation Costs - does it need a road or driveway put in? House site leveled? Will the house have a walk-out basement?
- Mineral, spring or other rights?
- Right of Ways? With some counties, power right-of ways may need to be secured to bring electric on to your property even if a pole is across the street.

There's more, but this quickly came to mind. I once had a real estate deal fall through because the perc test for the septic came up needing a pump system instead of a traditional system. The buyer didn't know what a pump system was, their realtor didn't know and refused to get educated so they backed out of the contract. I tried to get them to got to epa.gov where there is a wealth of information for land buyers. We sold that lot not 2 weeks later to someone who was happy the perc test had already been done. To them, a pump system was a plus.

Yes, it's important to work with a realtor who knows land when looking for land.

[motordavid]

To the OP,
young92 is right on, and said it much more succinctly than my ramble...
His/her bullets should be copied and used as Cliff's Notes, imo.

Back in '00, we found a couple of very knowledgeable REs, after we had
driven around for weeks, on and off, and they offered up some good
potential building sites. We found our 3+ acres with the Mill$ View on
our own, but the better REs provided a good direction that led to what
one wants, vs what is for sale.

I repeat, there are literally thousands of building sites/acreage out
here in "western NC", for sale. Most good REs have "pocket land"
not on the "lists", too.
GL, mD

[mtnwannabee]

Thank you both. We did find one realtor in the Weaverville Mars Hill area we liked, but they seem to know the developments better than the single lot listings. We saw one property we considered, but they kept us hanging for a few weeks until they got back to us with a survey and more info. By that time we had already ruled it out for a few reasons. They also set up a 'cart' for us where we get listings emailed to us, based on our requirements. But days/weeks go by with nothing added and I search other sites and see plenty of current listings and concluded they're just not experts at this.

Finding a realtor that would scout some listings for us before we travel would be ideal but maybe it's asking for too much. But spending weekends driving and in hotels gets to be an expense of time and money, and a disappointment when we return home empty handed.

We haven't looked in Maggie Valley/Waynesville - I was under the impression those areas are more pricey than Mars Hill, Marshall. But maybe that has changed. We've also looked around Marion and Rutherfordton but those don't have the mountain feel we want.

[BarbBr]

We're looking for pretty much the same thing. We've been looking a few times and hopefully will be looking some more in Sept or Oct. We're looking in the Waynesville area and our realtor is Mary Leatherwood with Sunburst Realty. She seems to really know land because she's lived there a long time and has purchased land herself.

Good luck in your search. I'd be interested in knowing where you find a lot.

Barb

[Loves mountains]

I'd call Kathy Hendricks at Country Places Realty in Marshall - she knows the area very well.

[mtnwannabee]

Thanks you both for the Realtor recommendations. I'll contact them both.

[Jellobiafra]

I don't want to start a bashing party here, but was just wondering if you had completely ruled out purchasing something that's already been built. Chances are, something exists with your needs and wants, that's already been built. There are thousands and thousands of properties for sale in the mountains.

We just moved her 6 months ago, but we decided long ago that we'd rent until we found the right already built home just waiting for us. If more people would adopt that outlook, less of our beautiful mountains will be stripped and cleared for even more new homes.

Just my two cents. Good luck on your search!

[mwh236]

Chances are, something exists with your needs and wants, that's already been built. There are thousands and thousands of properties for sale in the mountains.

Thanks, Jellobiafra, for mentioning this. You are right. There are so many vacant homes here in western NC. A few years ago during the "boom" Murphy was high on the Forbes "Best Places to Buy a Second Home" list and now there's hundreds of empty beautiful homes. I'm certain all of western NC has them. It's just a matter of finding the right one for the right price.