Ready to cozy up to your own slice of cabin bliss? Here's where to start.
A cabin in the woods can be a fairy-tale retreat â a place to curl up with a good book or conquer the nearby skiing hot spots. While there are plenty of cabins you can rent for a weekend, owning one provides the flexibility to escape when the weather or mood is right.
Here are three questions to ask yourself before making an offer on your cozy hideaway.
The word âcabinâ can refer to a variety of structures. Most people think of a small wooden house in a remote location, but thatâs not always the case â you have options, and theyâre worth exploring.
This traditional cabin type begs to be enjoyed with hot cocoa and a crackling fire. If a log cabin is calling your name, you'll need to decide on the type of wood, the log shape and the corner styles.
Spruce logs are popular for their resistance to decay, and Scandinavian pine is often chosen for its density and tight grain.
With a simple, iconic design, these triangular charmers can accommodate a lofted sleeping area or vaulted ceilings, and the roofâs steep slant prevents snow or leaf buildup.
Thanks to minimalism and tiny living trends, A-frames are experiencing a comeback. Theyâre hip and affordable â this tiny A-frame cost only $700 to construct, using mostly found materials.
If youâre looking for mobility, a tiny cabin can be built on wheels for towing capability.
Gastineau Log Homes has a Log Cabins 2 Go line, featuring 400-square-foot structures that are factory-made and ready to roll on trailers. An even tinier option â the Stanley model from Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses, built on an 8-foot-by-2-foot trailer with a foldable front porch.
Many companies offer catalogs of cost-effective cabin designs to choose from. The designs are typically customizable but simple enough to be factory-made and then transported to your site.
Do you want to be on a lake or a river? Far from the summer crowds or near a bustling mountain town? To find your ideal spot, keep these three things in mind.
Consider how often youâd like to use your cabin and how far youâre willing to travel to do so. Factor in holiday traffic â will you make it there for a three-day weekend without wasting most of your time on the road?
And since vacation homes are often the place for families to gather, pick a location thatâs convenient for everyone â and one that offers activities all family members can enjoy.
Cabins afford an opportunity to embrace the outdoors, so the setting is important. The window and porch views are going to play a prominent role in your relaxation time, so make sure you like what you see.
If youâre building your cabin, youâll want to plan your design and placement in harmony with the surrounding landscape. Log cabins are meant to look like theyâre a part of nature â not a disruption to it.
Remember that you wonât always be around to shovel the driveway or mow the lawn. If offseason maintenance is a concern, make sure thereâs someone you can hire to look after your property when youâre not there.
Cabins might seem like a luxury, but with careful budgeting and lifestyle adjustments, youâll find they can be an affordable way to acquire property and vacation time.
Budgeting for a cabin is just like budgeting for a home. The price tags vary widely, based on location, design, amenities and quality.
Consider how much value youâll get for your money. If youâre going to use it frequently, you wonât need to rent vacation homes, which could save you money in the long run. And if youâre going to rent it out, it could even make you money.
But if your cabin could potentially sit there unused, collecting maintenance to-dos that you arenât around to complete, it can be a major financial drain.
Speak with a financial adviser, and take plenty of time to assess pricing and location options before deciding if a second home is indeed within your budget.
Itâs a little more of an art than a science, but there are a few tricks you can try to yield more relevant search results.
Once you land on a location, search for it on Zillow. If youâre looking in a remote area outside city limits, try searching in the county or ZIP code.
You can also draw your own search boundaries on the map. If youâre getting fewer results than youâd like, try drawing a circle thatâs bigger than the area youâre looking in. That way, youâll see nearby listings too.
From here, itâs all about filters. Set your filters to show for-sale homes within your price range.
If your range is up to $300,000, try entering $350,000 to see homes where you might be able to negotiate the price. Consider Make Me Move listings, too, as these homeowners are motivated to sell, even though they havenât yet pulled the trigger.
You can also set the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, but keep your options open when youâre getting started.
Under Home Type, consider checking Lots/Land. Some properties are categorized this way even though they have small structures on the property. And if youâre considering building your own cabin, this will be an especially good option for you.
If youâre not seeing what youâre after, or if youâre getting pages upon pages of results, try playing around with Keywords under More. Try one keyword or phrase per search so you donât narrow your search results too much.
Keep in mind that Zillow scans the entire listing for your keywords, so if you search âschools,â youâll see tons of listings, because they all include nearby schools.
Most often, the keywords are pulled from the listing descriptions that real estate agents wrote to upsell the house. Think like they would â if you were selling a cabin in your locale, what features would you highlight?
Here are a few keywords to get you started: cabin, A-frame, getaway, cozy, woods, lakefront, river and rustic.
Happy cabin hunting!
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Originally published October 25, 2017.
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