If your looking to purchase vacant land in the mountains of western north carolina, you need to make sure you go through the proper "checklist".

1.  Does the lot have access to a community septic system or does the lot have to sustain itself for septic. If the lot has to sustain itself, make sure that it can, how many bedrooms of septic you can get on the lot, and finally what type of septic system the lot will require.  Septic systems can range for 5k to up to 30k.  So this is very improtant.

2. Water?  Does the property your looking at have a community water system you can tap into or do you have to drill a well.  If you have to drill a well, you are going to need to discover at least 2 locations on the property to be able to drill a well on.  I would advise to proceed with drilling a well during a due diligence phase before closing on the property.

3. Approximate cost to build on a lot.  A lot of mountain lots/property in the western north carolina can have a fairly steep topo.  So it's important to get an idea from a builder as the extra cost of building on a lot of this nature.  This can also affect the purchase price of the property.