What $400K Gets You in West Virginia, Minnesota vs. Vermont
September 30, 2026 · Landian Weekly Deals
This week's budget is $400,000, and for the first time all four answers come from states this newsletter has never visited. In Snowshoe, West Virginia, it buys a granite-and-stone Swiss chalet in Whistlepunk Village, steps from the lifts at the mid-Atlantic's biggest ski resort. In Crosslake, Minnesota, it buys the whole Up North fantasy: a year-round cabin on 4.21 acres with 85 feet of its own sandy Ox Lake frontage, five minutes from town. In Ludlow, Vermont, it buys a top-floor, ski-in/ski-out one-bedroom staring straight up Okemo's trails, with heat, WiFi and even firewood baked into the fees. And the fourth — in a state the subject line doesn't name, four time zones from the third — is a 1905 landmark on a street literally called Millionaire's Row, in the strongest short-term-rental market we've ever put in this section.
Each listing was verified active as of this issue, each is on Landian so you can tour or offer with a $4,999 flat fee instead of a commission, and every number below is an estimate — the disclaimer at the bottom applies to all of it.
Deal 1 · Snowshoe, West Virginia
A Swiss-style chalet steps from the mid-Atlantic’s biggest ski resort
Price
$377,000
Home
2 bd · 2 ba · 1,277 sqft
Est. revenue*
$36,500/yr ($250/night · 40% occ.)
Gross yield*
9.7%
West Virginia's answer is a Swiss-style ski chalet in Whistlepunk Village, steps from the lifts, the restaurants and the Western Territory's double-blacks at Snowshoe — the mid-Atlantic's biggest ski resort, which flips to lift-served downhill mountain biking all summer. Inside: granite chef's kitchen with a stone backsplash, wood-burning stone fireplace, a proper mud room for skis and bikes, in-unit laundry, and a private covered deck with a dog-and-kid gate; gated private parking is a genuine luxury on the mountain. Pocahontas County has no zoning that restricts short-term rentals — the village exists to be rented — and the HOA ($3,744/quarter) carries the village infrastructure. AirDNA has Snowshoe at a $417 average rate and 40% occupancy across 700+ listings, an average dominated by bigger slopeside homes; we've modeled this 2-bed at $250 and 40% — about $36K a year at the resort West Virginia built its tourism around.
Buying it through Landian costs a $4,999 flat fee instead of a ~2.5% commission — about $4,426 back on this one.
See the full listing & tour it →Deal 2 · Crosslake, Minnesota
The Up North cabin with 85 feet of its own sand beach
Price
$399,900
Home
3 bd · 1 ba · 920 sqft
Est. revenue*
$38,325/yr ($250/night · 42% occ.)
Gross yield*
9.6%
Minnesota's answer is the classic Up North cabin: a move-in-ready, year-round 3-bedroom on 4.21 acres with 85 feet of private sandy frontage on Ox Lake, towering pines, its own pond, a 30x27 garage, two sheds and — because this is Minnesota — a dedicated fish-cleaning house. The wall of windows frames the lake from the living room, and you're five minutes from the shops and restaurants of Crosslake in the heart of the Brainerd Lakes region, one of the Midwest's great summer economies. Crosslake began licensing short-term rentals in 2025 ($750 a year including the life-safety inspection), so the rules here are explicit rather than improvised. AirDNA has Crosslake at a $547 average rate and 45% occupancy — an average built on big multi-family lake houses — so we've modeled this one-bathroom cabin well below market at $250 and 42%: about $38K a year, with the acreage and the sand beach doing the marketing.
Buying it through Landian costs a $4,999 flat fee instead of a ~2.5% commission — about $4,998 back on this one.
See the full listing & tour it →Deal 3 · Ludlow, Vermont
Top-floor ski-in/ski-out at Okemo, firewood included
Price
$375,000
Home
1 bd · 1 ba · 599 sqft
Est. revenue*
$36,938/yr ($220/night · 46% occ.)
Gross yield*
9.9%
Vermont's answer is true ski-in/ski-out: a top-floor, updated one-bedroom in Okemo Mountain Lodge, looking straight across Okemo's trails and lifts, with a wood-burning fireplace, a private ski locker and a walk of a few hundred feet to the base lodge, ski school and après. The 2013 renovation covered the kitchen, bath, granite counters and tile; quarterly fees bundle gas heat, hot water, cable, WiFi, snow removal and even firewood — the low-friction way to own at a major eastern resort. Ludlow voted down an STR registry in 2025, so compliance is Vermont's standard rooms-and-meals tax registration and safety basics. AirDNA has Ludlow at a $632 average rate and 49% occupancy, numbers carried by whole chalets; we've modeled this slopeside 1-bed at $220 and 46% — about $37K a year from a unit that books itself every time Okemo makes snow.
Buying it through Landian costs a $4,999 flat fee instead of a ~2.5% commission — about $4,376 back on this one.
See the full listing & tour it →Deal 4 · Seward, Alaska
The surprise: a 1905 landmark on Millionaire’s Row
Price
$435,000
Home
3 bd · 1 ba · 1,724 sqft
Est. revenue*
$55,206/yr ($275/night · 55% occ.)
Gross yield*
12.7%
The Alaska answer is a piece of railroad history: an early-1900s home on Millionaire's Row in downtown Seward, custom-built for the Alaska Railroad's secretary — circular turret, coffered ceilings, fir floors, enclosed front porch, greenhouse and a two-car garage with a shop, all within walking distance of the Resurrection Bay waterfront. Plumbing and electrical are updated; the interior is honestly billed as ready for renovation, and that project is exactly why a whole house in this market shows up at this price. The zoning is Office/Residential — one of Seward's commercial districts, where the city permits non-owner-occupied whole-home nightly lodging with an annual permit, life-safety inspection and commercial insurance. Seward is the cruise-and-fishing gateway to Kenai Fjords, and AirDNA has it at a $337 average rate and 69% occupancy — the strongest market figures we've ever featured. We've modeled this 3-bed at $275 and 55% while the renovation earns its keep — about $55K a year.
Buying it through Landian costs a $4,999 flat fee instead of a ~2.5% commission — about $5,876 back on this one.
See the full listing & tour it →Four answers to the same $400,000: the Seward house is the swing-for-it play — the highest modeled revenue we've featured, attached to a renovation project in a 69%-occupancy harbor town; Okemo and Snowshoe are the two lowest-friction doors, ski-resort units whose villages and HOAs exist to make renting easy; and the Ox Lake cabin is the one your family will fight you for in July. Whichever answer fits, buying it through Landian costs a $4,999 flat fee instead of a ~2.5% commission — that's the difference you see in each card above.
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Get the Weekly Deals email*Every revenue, occupancy, and yield figure on this page is an estimate based on market-level short-term-rental data and our own assumptions — not a promise of performance. Listings verified active as of publication and can go under contract at any time. Landian is a licensed real-estate brokerage; this is not investment advice.