Been looking for a house for when I move my family back home from Korea, I really don't want to get into a super expensive house with the world the way it is. I want to live in a red state, with very few people and I love the mountains... the job market doesn't really matter to me as I own an online business and work from home, I do need decent internet.
I never thought about WV as a place to move to, but looking at some of the houses there seems to be some very decent houses for really cheap, I'm guessing the job market there sucks... but a few of these houses I could buy outright with what would be a down payment anywhere else.
Most of my family is in Charlotte, NC so it's not too too far, just curious about what it is like there.
Ya know, I've noticed that too. Like, even before the plandemic and real estate craze, South Carolina had absurd housing costs. I've always chalked it up to pretty much EVERY freaking house that isn't a mobile home being some "historic" house. So they can jack up prices on everything based on some arbitrary factor like that.
Really and truly, if you're gonna move THAT south and stay on the east coast, you might as well just go for broke and head to Florida so as to not pay income Taxes. If you stay out of the cities and SoFlo in general, Florida is actually rather cheap to live in. Northern Florida in particular is about like living in Rural Georgia or Alabama. Both culture wise, and as far as cost of living goes.
If you just want mountain views, Go for North East Alabama. Dirt cheap land, Foothills of the Appalachian mountains, generally friendly people, etc. etc. Plus if you look around and plan things right, you can get a pretty good deal on a decent house relatively close to a population center for convenience.
Alternatively you could just say screw it, and go for the Arkansas part of the Ozarks or one of the smaller mountain ranges in Oklahoma. Yeah, beleive it or not Oklahoma isn't entirely flat. I believe it has 3 mountain ranges. One in the North East, one in the South East, and one in the South West that extends into the Texas Panhandle if I remember correctly.
Speaking of which, Texas is another good choice. If you want mountains, there's mountains in West Texas, where land and housing is still dirt cheap. If you wanna try and look around, Texas Hill Country is still an option. The Real Estate Market is cooling off and leveling out as of late, so the prices are starting to fall and level off in Texas, Florida, etc. That being said, you couldn't pay me enough to live in a place like Dallas, Austin, Houston, etc. Too many freaking people and traffic is a living hell.
Regardless, there's lots of good options here, it's just a matter of doing a bit of personal research and weighing pros and cons. What're you willing to give up, and what do you HAVE to have.