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What $450K Gets You in Arkansas, North Carolina vs. Arizona

November 11, 2026 · Landian Weekly Deals

Four homes at the same $450K budget across four settings: a cottage on 8.5 wooded Ozark acres outside Eureka Springs AR, a Smokies-view chalet in Maggie Valley NC, an oceanfront Ocean City MD condo, and a downtown Phoenix AZ high-rise corner

New format this week: same budget, four settings. We put $450,000 on the table and went looking for the four places people actually daydream about owning — the woods, the mountains, the beach and the city. In Arkansas it buys a cottage hidden on eight and a half wooded acres outside Eureka Springs, where the aerial photo is solid forest. In North Carolina it buys a turnkey-furnished chalet whose deck points straight down a corridor of layered Smoky Mountain ridges. In Arizona it buys a glass-walled corner high-rise over downtown Phoenix with the short-term-rental question settled by state statute. And the beach? That's the fourth state — the one carrying the biggest modeled number of the issue, in a market most investors fly right past.

Each listing was verified active as of this issue, each is on Landian so you can tour or offer for a flat fee based on the home’s price instead of a commission, and every number below is an estimate — the disclaimer at the bottom applies to all of it.

The woods · Eureka Springs, Arkansas

A cottage hidden on 8.5 wooded Ozark acres

70 County Road 1143, Eureka Springs, AR 72632 — listing photo

Price

$420,000

Home

2 bd · 2 ba · 2,280 sqft

Est. revenue*

$31,208/yr ($190/night · 45% occ.)

Gross yield*

7.4%

The woods answer is eight and a half acres of them, with a metal-roofed cottage hidden in the middle, a few miles outside one of America's quirkiest tourist towns. Cathedral ceilings and big windows keep 2,280 square feet bright inside, a full-width front porch and a back deck put you in the trees, and the listing's drone shot is nothing but unbroken Ozark forest to the horizon. The location detail that matters: this one sits outside Eureka Springs' city limits — beyond the city's 2021 ban on new residential tourist lodging — in unincorporated Carroll County, which has no short-term-rental permit regime at all. AirDNA tracks the Eureka Springs market around a $200 average nightly rate at 47% occupancy; we've modeled this one a notch under at $190 a night and 45% — about $31K a year.

Buying it through Landian costs a $4,999 flat fee instead of a ~2.5% commission, about $5,501 back on this one.

See the full listing & tour it →

The mountains · Maggie Valley, North Carolina

A turnkey chalet pointed at layered Smokies ridgelines

73 Mountain Breeze Dr, Maggie Valley, NC 28751 — listing photo

Price

$419,900

Home

2 bd · 2 ba · 1,025 sqft

Est. revenue*

$29,200/yr ($200/night · 40% occ.)

Gross yield*

7.0%

The mountains answer comes with the photo that sells the whole theme: a deck rail pointed straight down a corridor of layered Smoky Mountain ridges, year-round. This chalet in The Overlook above Maggie Valley has a vaulted-beam great room with a fireplace, a split-bedroom plan, connected upper and lower decks, a brand-new roof — and it's offered turnkey furnished, so the distance from closing to first booking is a photo shoot. Maggie Valley is one of the Smokies' busiest vacation-rental valleys, about 40 minutes from both Great Smoky Mountains National Park entrances and from Asheville, and two-bedroom view chalets are its bread and butter. Market trackers put the valley's nightly rates roughly between $180 and $260 with seasonal occupancy; we've modeled this one at $200 a night and a conservative 40% — about $29K a year.

Buying it through Landian costs a $4,999 flat fee instead of a ~2.5% commission, about $5,498 back on this one.

See the full listing & tour it →

The beach · Ocean City, Maryland

True oceanfront — and the week's biggest modeled number

13900 Wight St #102, Ocean City, MD 21842 — listing photo

Price

$449,000

Home

2 bd · 2 ba · 815 sqft

Est. revenue*

$47,450/yr ($260/night · 50% occ.)

Gross yield*

10.6%

And the beach is the surprise state — Maryland — carrying the biggest modeled number of the issue. This is true oceanfront in quiet north Ocean City: two balconies looking over the dunes to the Atlantic (the listing promises dolphin watching from your chair), three sliding glass doors of light, an elevator, two covered parking spaces under the building, and the sand literally steps away. Ocean City licenses short-term rentals town-wide, and this summer's much-publicized rental fight was about single-family neighborhoods — not oceanfront condo buildings like this one. AirDNA has the Ocean City market at a $363 average rate and 52% occupancy, skewed by big multi-bedroom homes; we've modeled this two-bedroom at $260 a night and 50% — about $47K a year, a 10.6% modeled gross yield on a $449,000 ask.

Buying it through Landian costs a $4,999 flat fee instead of a ~2.5% commission, about $6,226 back on this one.

See the full listing & tour it →

The city · Downtown Phoenix, Arizona

A glass-walled high-rise corner where state law settles the STR question

310 S 4th St #601, Phoenix, AZ 85004 — listing photo

Price

$479,000

Home

2 bd · 2.5 ba · 1,426 sqft

Est. revenue*

$40,515/yr ($185/night · 60% occ.)

Gross yield*

8.5%

The city answer has to clear a bar the other three don't: most big cities ban whole-unit short-term rentals outright. Arizona is the exception — state law (A.R.S. §9-500.39) bars cities from prohibiting them, and Phoenix requires only a vacation-rental license — so a downtown condo here comes with a certainty New York, Chicago or LA can't offer (the building's own HOA rules still deserve a read before you offer). The unit earns the skyline brief: a sixth-floor corner at Summit at Copper Square with a wrap-around balcony, walls of commercial-grade tinted glass, city-light and mountain views, two suites each with a remodeled bath, and a 23rd-floor sky lounge upstairs. Chase Field, the arena and the convention center are all on foot. Phoenix's citywide market runs roughly 60% occupancy at $173–$232 average rates; we've modeled this one at $185 a night and 60% — about $40K a year.

Buying it through Landian costs a $4,999 flat fee instead of a ~2.5% commission, about $6,976 back on this one.

See the full listing & tour it →

Four settings, one $450,000 budget: the Ozark cottage is the land play — 8.5 acres and no permit regime; the Maggie Valley chalet is the turnkey — furnished, new roof, views forever; the Ocean City oceanfront carries the issue's biggest modeled revenue; and the Phoenix corner is the certainty play, with short-term rentals protected by state statute. Whichever setting is yours, buying it through Landian costs a flat fee based on the home’s price instead of a ~2.5% commission; that's the difference you see in each card above.

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*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.