Yes, they are expensive and hard to find these days. Also parts are hard to get and they need more maintenance than your typical Cessna or Piper. Great short field performance and hauling capacity but there are other options.
The current STOL record holder is a slightly modified Piper SuperCub. You can build yourself one of these as well as a number of other great homebuilt STOL aircraft.
A few that come to mind are the Supercubs, Wag-Aero Sportsman 2+2 based on a PA-14, Glastar composite Sportsman 2+2, Zenair 701 & 801, and a number of others. The great thing about homebuilts is that you can build the parts or use non-certified parts and do your own maintenance.
Plain old Cessna 172s and 182s as well as Piper 140s and 180s are very reasonable now. Maintenance is a headache and expensive with certified aircraft where even a 3/8ths washer or an O-Ring will have a paper trail and most of the work will require a certified A&P mechanic with an annual inspection by an AI.
Plus there are still Cessna tail draggers around, highly prized as STOL craft.