All Forum Posts by: Tristan S.

@Matthew Jackson for sure, I sent you a pm

@Matthew Jackson I live in Boone, work in blowing rock.

The market is still very competitive. There is currently a handful of listings under 350k in the Boone area.

With your budget, you would probably have to go a little farther as mentioned by others in this thread.

Because everything is so expensive, I decided that I would build a 400 SF cabin myself to rent out, not taking any debt out. Curious to see how it will do.

@Kyle Schultz hi Kyle, I’ll send you a link via PM. We are having a meeting this friday at Booneshine.

@Ryan Hagen have you found anything yet? The market has been crazy here and the inventory has been so low that most property sell within days, and usually above asking.

What kind of property did you have in mind ?

@Lauren Flower just sent you a PM

@Jeff Pullman

Lots can be affordable but you’ll just be getting a steep sloped lot. Lots of prep work to get it ready to being able to build on.

Numbers on $/SF vary greatly, there are a lot of things to consider. I doubt a builder would be able to provide you any range before they see the plans of what you want to build and what the lot looks like. Could probably go from 250$/sf up to much more depending on the finishes, not sure if that would include the earth work.

I wouldn’t assume that « builder have it figure out » some do, some don’t. I’m a residential structural engineer in Boone and we see some horrifying things on some new built, so definitely don’t assume that they all know what they’re doing. Not all builders are created equal. You’ll pay more for the big names in town but will probably get something better and less headaches, as the saying goes, you get what you pay for.

Also keep in mind that mountain homes can potentially come with some very expensive maintenance. Any foundation work, retaining wall repairs/replacements will be in the 5 figure range or more. As long as everything is well planned and budgeted for, then it should be fine. I have seen too many « let’s buy a secondary home in the Mtn and rent it when we don’t use and it’ll pay for itself ».

@Bruce Woodruff thank you for the honest words.

a) I could try to make it 18'x18'.

b) I do agree with this but I do consider myself fairly handy. That being said, I am sure that building from the ground up is another level and I am setting myself for lots of headaches but hey, I gotta learn somehow. 

I said deck, I should have said front porch as that is all it is, with the start of the gable roof over it.

@Kurt West

1. The $123/SF is based on what the county will allow me to use to based my estimate to determine if I will be above or below the 30k, based on some data they have available. She mentioned which documentation this was based on but cannot recall.

2. I was under the assumption that this was a fairly long process requiring testing, the proper insurance..Etc. Would that be worth it for potentially building a handful of structures in my entire life. Are you knowledgeable about the process? I would love to hear about it if it is indeed not too time consuming.

3. I am a licensed residential structural engineer (PE), I design mountain houses for a living so I would say that I am pretty knowledgeable on the subject.

4. I have not, but I have already got my plans drawn and details figured out. I have never done it per se but know exactly how it should be done. I am fairly handy as I have done some remodeling work. I think that between my knowledge from work and own research, I should be able to figure it out.

@Joshua Strickland, that is a good point but an existing cabin here is around 300k min, market is nuts with very low inventory (touristic destination in the Appalachian mountains). My goal with this small cabin is to place it on the same land as my house. The whole cost should be pretty minimal (compare to 300k) and result in a decent stream of income which should offset most of my current mortgage (the whole house hacking kind of deal). I also am looking forward to building it as a personal undertaking as I love remodeling/construction projects (I am actually documenting the whole process on youtube as I go). If I could find a small cabin ready to go for less than 100k, I would seriously have considered it.

@John Underwood you make a good point.

Hi,

I am about to start building a small cabin next to my house. I already have done all my homework (unrestricted zoning, no hoa/poa, no deed restrictions..Etc). I have gotten my septic permit, the septic system is installed and has passed inspection.

I am about to start my building permit application. Here is my question, I plan on building the whole cabin myself and then renting it out as a short term rental (because I want to and truly enjoy doing things like that). Since I own the land, I can get an homeowner exemption meaning that I do not have to be a licensed GC and I can do everything myself as long as I will be present for all the counties inspections. The limitation is that if I want the exemption, I have to agree not to rent out the place for 12 months after the date of completion.

The only loophole is that if the construction cost is going to be less than 30k, no licensed is needed so no need to apply for the exemption hence no 12 months limitations. The cost is going to be less than 30k because I will build it myself but obviously the county won't just accept my "random" estimate, they will allow to estimate $123/SF of conditioned space and $22/SF of deck.

The floor plan I was planning on building is coming at $37,404 (288 SF floor plan, 90 SF front deck), so my question is : shall I make it smaller to get below that 30k limit ? Meaning that I would probably have to reduce the square footage to 234SF which seem to become rather small at that point!

What do you think? Anyone having some small cabin, tiny house, cottage that are in that size realm as I would love to get feedbacks on what would be too small ?

Thanks a lot!

@Maria Ferre I currently live in Boone.

Wherever you end up choosing to build, make sure that you are on some unrestricted land, outside of any HOA/POA. This should allow you to do what you would like.

A knowledgeable agent should be able to assist you with this. There will be verbiage in every deed of trust mentioning any restrictions placed on the land, I would highly recommend looking over those before buying something. I would stay away from POA/HOA as even if they were to allow STR at the moment you buy, they could change rules down the road.

Additionally, most unrestricted, outside of POA/HOA pieces of land will not have access to any sewer system and you will have to install your own septic system. Before buying land, I would make sure to hire the right experts to assess the land topography, it's soil quality to determine what size septic would be allowed. Challenging topography, and/or bad soils will require you to have much more complex septic which can be in the tens of thousand. Definitely something to keep in mind. In some cases, soils will be so bad that you won't even be able to get a septic to work leaving you with a useless piece of land.

You will also have to install your own well most likely.

Hope this helps!