East Tennessee #1 Destination for People Who Dream of Living in a Cabin

Almost as often as people who call us because they want to own vacation rental property, we have people call that love the mountains and want to make living in a cabin here their goal, either as a second home where they can come and relax or as a place they can enjoy their golden years of retirement.

If living in a cabin is your lifelong dream, then you probably already know there are very few places to make that dream come true. Our region of East Tennessee is the most popular target destination of all the places available. For one thing, we have more cabins here than any other place in the United States, and the cabins in those other locations aren’t nearly as affordable as the ones our area has to offer.

What makes owning a cabin in East Tennessee so good? Well, there is more than one reason.

The most obvious reason is the tourist attraction to the Smokies. Other people can pay your mortgage for the home in which you enjoy your vacation time, or while you’re waiting to retire to live in it. And as a second home, the down payment on the property can be as little as five percent with some lenders.

Secondly, the maintenance on a cabin is a lot easier than you might think. Log homes are very durable. We have cabins in our area that were built with logs from a hundred years ago or more. You just don’t want to let it dry out in the heat from the sun, or let it get so wet that the water rots the logs. And for sure don’t let the bugs eat it! Once bugs like carpenter bees start burrowing their way in, next you have to deal with the woodpeckers that like to knock even bigger holes in the wood to eat the bugs. After that, your next “squatters” are the squirrels and raccoons who have found the perfect place to store their nuts or keep warm on a cold winter night. The good news though, is that with just a little bit of routine cabin maintenance that will never be your nightmare. Keep the logs treated, the gutters cleaned, and keep the caulking handy. By the way, here’s a fun tip… use clear caulk – as the caulk that matches today will not match when your logs mature!

Speaking of animals, here’s another very important tip – don’t feed the animals. That includes not leaving food out that will attract them. The last thing you want is to make a family of bears your next-door neighbors, or worse – your uninvited guests! I had a client once who put a deep storage freezer on their porch and came home one day to find Mama Bear ripping through the collection of frozen pizzas with her cubs. Their solution to the problem was to put a chain lock around the freezer. But Mama Bear wasn’t going to take no for an answer. She just took the whole freezer and carried it off the porch! Also, you want to make sure they can’t get to your hot tub easily, or you’ll be as surprised as an agent in my office was when a family of bears decided it was bath time. That is one nasty bath! So much for natural setting! That’s a little too much nature for even my tastes!

Another great thing about living in a cabin is that you have the potential for a low-maintenance yard. Plant things that are native to the region such as rhododendron and you won’t even have to mow the lawn! You’ll spend your time enjoying the peace and quiet of your woodland setting instead. Just allow nature to naturalize your property and it will be beautiful. Nature is the best artist!

Best of all, living in a cabin as opposed to a traditional residential home will translate into a higher resale value when you decide to downsize or sell the cabin you turned into an investment property. Traditional residences are not appreciating at the rate of our cabins. The supply and demand of these cabins has a lot to do with it. We just don’t have a large enough inventory to keep up with the number of buyers who want to purchase a cabin, so the prices have continued to climb at a steady rate over the last couple of years as a result. It’s still cheaper to buy than to build, and we’ve seen the price of building increase so it’s not likely to change anytime soon.

If you’d like to know more about living in a cabin or need help finding the right cabin for a vacation home, investment rental or even your own long term residence, call me! I will be glad to answer any questions you may have!