The Bostic Log - Cabins and Homes

The Bostic Log – Cabins and Homes

(A Series on Mountain Living in Bostic, NC)

By McCall’s Real Estate, J. Wessier 

Over the next few months, McCall’s Real Estate will offer a series of short articles on Mountain living in Bostic, North Carolina. These articles will address real estate issues like buying and selling mountain homes and land, decorating and maintaining log homes, and the dream of owning a cabin verses the reality of living in one, to name a few. Join us often. It will be like a chat by the fire in an open hearth; warm, engaging, and always inviting you to stay awhile.

2. The Pros of Log Cabin/Home Living

Do you still believe log cabin/home living is residing in a drafty space no larger than your living room with a door in one wall, a window in another, a stone fireplace on the third, and a bed against the fourth? Do you think cabin life means living low tech and sans creature comforts? Not in this corner of the Carolinas. Here in Bostic, NC, home of Yellowtop Mountain Estates, Golden Valley Estates, The Summit, and South Mountain Peaks, log cabin living is luxury living. Here, there are quite a few high-end cabins for sale, but buying land and building your own dream home is also a great option. Here are some of the pros of building and living in a log cabin/home:

1. Concerned about your carbon footprint? The materials used to build log homes are environmentally friendly – think trees, they’re the ultimate in “green”. Log cabins can also be built faster than standard houses. That can save a whole lot of energy. And . . .

2. Log homes are well insulated. Compared to a wood-frame home of comparable size, a log home with conventional heating and air conditioning is 2.5 to 20 percent more energy efficient if built and caulked properly.

3. Log walls are natural sound insulators. You may close out the sound of wind whistling through the trees if like, but falling asleep to the soft rustle of leaves and crickets chirping makes for peaceful rest. Consider opening your windows.

4. Split white pine, which is used to build many cabins, is relatively inexpensive.

5. People who suffer from allergies or environmental sensitivities find living in a log home beneficial. There is less humidity in log cabins/homes so the interior air quality tends to stay healthier. Lower humidity levels also means less mold and mildew issues.

6. They’re cozy and comfortable. The heart of many log homes is the hearth, the fireplace. There are few things more settling and soothing than a cup of comfort by the fire.

There’s a joke about log cabins: One day a man and his wife got lost hiking in the deep woods. The husband tried the usual tactics to determine direction - moss on the trees (there was no moss), direction of the sun (it was an overcast day), etc. Just as they were beginning to panic, he spotted a log cabin off in the distance. He pulled out his binoculars, studied the cabin, then turned and led them right back to their car.

"That was terrific," the wife said. "How did you do it?"

"Simple," he replied. "On this side of the mountain, all TV satellite dishes point south."

This brings me to the main argument against mountain cabin/home living – you have to sacrifice technology. Not true. Satellite and internet are both available in all the gated communities. Cell phone service is also available, but not consistently. There are some areas where cell signals are weak or unattainable – in those areas, a landline is recommended.

If you want the little cabin in the woods with no amenities and no tech services, those charming dwellings are out there, but if you want the best of both worlds – a world where mountain serenity and comfort meets real world luxury and necessities like internet and satellite, we have a log cabin/home for you or the land to build one on. Come see us!

Below is a beautiful log home currently on the market. Take a look to see one version of what mountain log home living looks like. 

Nurturing By Nature

Overview Maps Photos Neighborhood

$224,900 Single Family Home Main Features 2 Bedrooms 2 Bathrooms 1 Partial Bathroom Lot: 1.43 acre(s) Location 844 Summit Parkway Bostic, NC 28018 USA

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Karen D. McCall McCall's Real Estate (828) 245-9003 kdmccall@gmail.com http://www.KDMcCall.com         Listed by: Karen D. McCall

Our recent listings Nurturing By Nature Sunset Side of the Mountain Colorful Canvas A Lot to Love Once Upon a Mountain Top . . . Subscribe to our listing feed

Nearby properties for sale

Just listed: 529 Arbra Mountain Way, Bostic, NC 28018 for $198,900 via @realbird

Sunset Side of the Mountain

Overview Maps Photos Features Neighborhood

$198,900 Single Family Home Main Features 3 Bedrooms 3 Bathrooms Interior: 1,176 sqft Lot: 3.75 acre(s) Location 529 Arbra Mountain Way Bostic, NC 28018 USA

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Karen D. McCall McCall's Real Estate (828) 245-9003 kdmccall@gmail.com http://www.KDMcCall.com         Listed by: Karen D. McCall

Our recent listings Sunset Side of the Mountain Once Upon a Mountain Top . . . Charming 1880 Farmhouse A Bit of Country in the City Hunter’s Haven Subscribe to our listing feed

Nearby properties for sale

The Bostic Log - Cabins and Homes

The Bostic Log – Cabins and Homes

(A Series on Mountain Living in Bostic, NC)

By McCall’s Real Estate, J. Wessier 

Over the next few months, McCall’s Real Estate will offer a series of short articles on Mountain living in Bostic, North Carolina. These articles will address real estate issues like buying and selling mountain homes and land, decorating and maintaining log homes, and the dream of owning a cabin verses the reality of living in one, to name a few. Join us often. It will be like a chat by the fire in an open hearth; warm, engaging, and always inviting you to stay awhile.

1.    The Romantic Getaway that Keeps On Giving

We all have a romantic view of mountain log cabins: the big, warm fireplace with comfy over-stuffed chairs close-by, the magnificent view, open windows and open hearts, and the whisper of wind through white pines. If we want to renew the romance in our relationship, it’s the perfect place for a weekend or week-long getaway. But what about something more, something enduring? If you want to renew your life and reinvent your lifestyle, consider living year round in a log home in the North Carolina Mountains.

Western North Carolina has many fine mountain communities and Bostic, NC offers quality mountain living at its best. Yellowtop Mountain Estates, South Mountain Peaks, and Golden Valley Estates are well established private gated communities with a growing population of residents who have built their dream homes and designed their ideal lifestyles. These communities are located in Western North Carolina's Isothermal Belt where there are four distinct seasons, but summers and winters are mild. All the communities have easy to drive paved roads. Nearby, you can access golf, boating, hunting and fishing, shopping, dining, area attractions and health care. The recreation and health services are far enough away to give you a sense of quiet seclusion, yet close enough to swiftly access if needed.

Imagine the best of all worlds: small city offerings and attractions, country/mountain solitude, and virtual/internet access. Mountain log home living is a viable long-term option. It’s the romantic getaway that keeps on giving and keeps you living the dream

.

Below is a stunning log home currently on the market. Take a look to see one version of what mountain log home living looks like.

Once Upon a Mountain Top . . .

Overview Maps Photos Description Neighborhood

$329,900 Single Family Home Main Features 3 Bedrooms 2 Bathrooms 1 Partial Bathroom Lot: 7.40 acre(s) Location 188 Black Ridge Drive Bostic, NC 28018 USA

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Karen D. McCall McCall's Real Estate (828) 245-9003 kdmccall@gmail.com http://www.KDMcCall.com         Listed by: Karen D. McCall

Our recent listings Expansive View and Lovely Sunsets Nurturing By Nature Sunset Side of the Mountain Colorful Canvas A Lot to Love Subscribe to our listing feed

Nearby properties for sale

Golden Valley Estates

We just posted a web page for Golden Valley Estates on the real estate site: McCallsRealEstate.com and it looks good. Joey and I are building menu buttons for each of the Fall Creek Developments. This will provide links for anyone who wants more information about Golden Valley Estates and doesn't know where to start.

My husband and I bought 10 acres in Golden Valley Estates in 2002 before Fall Creek started paving. We paid $49,900 for the nearly 10 acre parcel, lot 3 on Fire Tower Road in Bostic, NC. I had a torn meniscus and was unable to walk the property, but my husband and our sales agent, Eric Nelson set out for the bottom where the back line joins Allen Branch. I unfolded a red chair and had a seat. While I sat there waiting I thought about what my friend in real estate, Carla, had said.

Now, I'm going to step back about three years. One of the writers in the Fireside Writer's Forum had put her historic Rutherford home on the market and she wouldn't tell anyone how much it was listed for. No problem for me, I popped over to Realtor.com and found out all about it. I'd been following area real estate because I wanted to buy some property to build a house on, but I didn't want to buy just anywhere. Rutherford County has no zoning and while I'll never vote for zoning against my friends and neighbors, I don't want to come home from work one day, find a haint blue single-wide against our property line, and realize the property value has depreciated more than the value of the single-wide which had been painted with a brush.

With an eye towards purchasing real estate I began to peruse the online market. Soon, I was able to tell Carla what was for sale in and around Golden Valley. I also knew the sellers, knew the size of the tracts and right much history - because I was compiling an area history for the Golden Valley Community Club.

"Girl," she exclaimed, "you ought to be in real estate."

So – I’m all caught up now – there I was, sitting in a red folding chair listening for Eric and Bo, thinking about how to get started in real estate
.
There weren't any real estate schools around and Isothermal Community Collage hadn't had a class in several years. The nearest place I could find to take the classes at a college, was Gaston College 42 miles away. And so I drove, for a semester nearly, twice a week to Gaston College and got my salesman's license.

Before I got my license, I called Ronnie Porter. If you know us, you know my son George is married to Ronnie's daughter Megan. I asked Ronnie if I could go to work with him. Sure - he was glad to have me and we worked well together, but the real estate boom of 2005 was coming down the pike and there was a new Re/Max opening up in town. Ronnie and I decided that with the sort of business I wanted to do, a franchise might be the right place to do it. Most of my clients were from out of town and had never heard of Porter's real estate. The power of Re/Max could go a long way with my mountain properties and so I made the move.

But I digress, none of this had happened, yet. What happened was we bought lot 3 on Golden Valley Estates from Fall Creek Land Company and took some ribbing from our local friends over it. "You paid $5000 an acre for mountain land!" And we learned to reply, "Nah, we chipped in on the road and got the land for free." Because while we certainly could have found cheaper land, we could not have planted ourselves in a community with deed restrictions and a paved road - before Fall Creek came that didn't exist.

And so, I decided to go back to school in my 40's, to have knee surgery, and to buy the land – and it was all a great investment.