Now is a really good time to buy a vacation home. Interest rates are low and the Eastern Panhandle is a great place to have a getaway. So here’s the areas that I think are the best places to buy a vacation home.

BUYING A VACATION HOME
A vacation home can do double or even triple duty.

It can serve as a weekend getaway, a rental when you aren’t using it ( and weekend rentals do very well up here). also a test the waters sort of thing if you’re looking at a future retirement home or move because you’ll be able to telecommute.

TYPES OF VACATION HOMES
If living in a historic village where you can walk to town and you like that as a lifestyle, you can find that here. If you’re looking for a resort type of community where there’s golf and spa like communities, we have that here. And if living more out in the boonies is your idea of a great getaway, we also have that.

LIVING IN TOWN
So starting with the historic village option. my picks for that lifestyle are Charles Town and Shepherdstown in Jefferson County and Berkeley Springs in Morgan County.

Charles Town in Jefferson is – size wise, somewhere between a mid sized city and a small town. There’s restaurants and shops downtown, a very nice walking area. Lots of historic buildings. Charles Town is the county seat and there’s some great old homes surrounding the downtown area.

Shepherdstown in Jefferson County is another option for a great small town lifestyle. It’s the oldest town in West Virginia and really one of the most charming. It’s a university town, so there’s lots of activities connected to Shepherd University, theater week in the summer being one of my favorites. It’s not as large as Charles Town, but there are some great old homes around town.

About 45 minutes west from Shepherdstown is Berkeley Springs in Morgan County. It’s a well known artist town with some really interesting galleries. It’s named as one of the top 100 artists towns in the country. You’ll find homes there to be less expensive than in Jefferson county.

RESORT LIVING COMMUNITIES
Next category I want to share is my pics of communities that offer a resort lifestyle. If you’re a golfer or a tennis player, these communities may really be appealing to you. and my three picks for this type of getaway are Cress Creek in Jefferson County, The Woods in Berkeley County and Coolfont in Morgan County.

So starting at Cress Creek, that’s a beautiful manicured high end community just outside Shepherdstown. Homes are typically well above $500,000. They have a golf course, tennis courts, swimming pool, clubhouse, where they have a lot of planned activities for the residents. It’s similar to a very high end subdivision you see in more populated areas, but without all the congestion, there’s some really beautiful homes in there and beautiful grounds.

Going west of Berkeley County, there’s the Woods Resort in Hedgesville and that community really has it all. I have a client and he wants to be in the wilderness and she wants to be in a community. So The Woods is a great compromise for them. it borders the 20,000 plus acre sleepy creek wilderness area with access to hiking trails in the park from the woods community, there’s two golf courses, two outdoor pools, outdoor tennis courts, a restaurant, pub on the grounds. There’s also a huge indoor fitness center with an indoor tennis court, indoor pool, full service spa and salon. there’s golf teams and organized tournaments and planned activities for the residents. So in this case, you’ve got the wilderness close by and you’ve also got a really nice planned community. The Woods is a large community of about 1800 homes and there’s a variety of prices in there.

At one end of the community are smaller cabins. that area is more wooded, it’s less manicured, has a lower price point. and then at the other end around the golf courses there’s high end homes, some really gorgeous properties. You know, there’s really nothing in the Eastern Panhandle that has all the amenities and the variety of homes that you find in The Woods.

My next pick for that sort of lifestyle is Coolfont and that’s just outside Berkeley Springs. Those homes are on wooded lots. Most are cedar style homes. there’s a pool, tennis courts, clubhouse, there’s a restaurant there, that’s part of the Coolfont Resort. Lots of those homes are vacation homes and the owners use them also as weekend rentals.

LIVING IN THE BOONIES
And then the other option, that means (that may mean) a great getaway for you may just be living in the country, having some land, getting away from home owner associations and all the congestion and that is still available and affordable in this area.

You’re more likely to find that sort of thing by heading north and west of i-81 towards Morgan County. also. if your dream home is waterfront property, you can find that in all three counties up here.

I put together a page on our website of homes for sale. In each of these categories-homes in town, homes in a resort community, homes with acreage,. also waterfront homes. That address is https://BestPlacesToBuyAVacationHome.com

There’s homes for sale and it stays updated so you can check back, see what’s new on the market or from that page, you can set up a search with the criteria you want or contact me, let me know what that is and i’ll set up your search.