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Old 09-01-2020, 06:44 PM
 
2,117 posts, read 1,724,674 times
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Myself and my fiancee have been considering moving to Alaska for a while (currently in Washington state) but I've noticed many towns/cities don't have much in the way of apartments for rent outside of Anchorage. I've mostly just been using the larger apartment rental sites online but I've just been wondering are these the best means of apartment searching in Alaska? Or is there just not much in the way of rentals up there? I was looking at Juneau for example. We would need to live close to a hospital for medical reasons and I'm assuming both Anchorage and Juneau would be ideal since they are the 2 largest cities but Juneau doesn't seem to have many rentals available. I also had some other questions if anyone could answer. I know groceries tend to be on the more expensive side up there but how much difference are we talking compared to the lower 48? Also, how about car insurance, Internet, heat, electric etc. Thank you for the help.

Last edited by fluffydelusions; 09-01-2020 at 06:52 PM..
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Old 09-02-2020, 01:27 AM
 
Location: on the wind
23,077 posts, read 18,456,708 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fluffydelusions View Post
Myself and my fiancee have been considering moving to Alaska for a while (currently in Washington state) but I've noticed many towns/cities don't have much in the way of apartments for rent outside of Anchorage. I've mostly just been using the larger apartment rental sites online but I've just been wondering are these the best means of apartment searching in Alaska? Or is there just not much in the way of rentals up there? I was looking at Juneau for example. We would need to live close to a hospital for medical reasons and I'm assuming both Anchorage and Juneau would be ideal since they are the 2 largest cities but Juneau doesn't seem to have many rentals available. I also had some other questions if anyone could answer. I know groceries tend to be on the more expensive side up there but how much difference are we talking compared to the lower 48? Also, how about car insurance, Internet, heat, electric etc. Thank you for the help.
I don't know what you mean by "the larger apartment rental sites", but you probably don't find much listed for a couple of reasons...because there aren't many vacant much of the time (at least for Juneau...don't know about Anchorage) and because smaller independent landlords may not use those commercial websites to list their vacancies. You may find more listings checking online newspaper classifieds (Juneau Empire or Capitol City Weekly, Anchorage Daily News, Anchorage Press), craigslist, Facebook rentals, searching the web for realtors in those cities that work with rental properties, or by searching on real estate websites such as Zillow or Trulia:

https://www.trulia.com/for_rent/Anchorage,AK/

https://www.zillow.com/juneau-ak/rentals/

As for car insurance, why don't you start by asking your current insurance company for a contact for a branch office in those AK cities? They could compare cost for the same coverage you have now. If they don't have an AK office they could probably refer you to someone else.

Utilities will generally all be higher in AK than WA. Too many variables to give you a precise answer how much higher. Sorry I can't help more about that...I haven't lived in either city, primarily small bush towns where they're even higher. If you have specific medical needs AK probably isn't a great idea even if you do live in the big city. Specialist care is expensive and simply hard to get...many services and procedures will require you to fly back down south.

Last edited by Parnassia; 09-02-2020 at 01:35 AM..
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Old 09-02-2020, 02:33 AM
 
Location: Interior Alaska
2,383 posts, read 3,083,114 times
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I think most people probably consider Anchorage and Fairbanks to be the biggest cities... ? Juneau is the capitol but there are no roads in or out.

I am going to echo the above that moving here with medical issues is not a great idea. We do not have great medical care and again, just as said above, we do not have good specialty care. We were actually just given a spiel at work today about next year's benefits which included in the information about why we should choose in-network providers some insight to why specialty care is sometimes so very expensive here. Fairbanks, and Alaska in general, are referred to as "The Wild West of Healthcare" in part because specialty providers come up here and set up practices but don't contract with any insurance companies. They still get referrals because they're the only provider of that particular specialty in town (or in the state). They do what is called "balance billing," where, say you have a $100k procedure, then they bill your insurance who pays $20k, then they bill you for the balance... $80k. And it is perfectly legal for them to hold you responsible to pay them that amount of money.

For rentals, most everything here is listed either locally (on the wall in the store in our area), on Craigslist or Facebook.

Vehicle insurance is about the same, so far as I recall. Heating fuel, electricity and internet are a lot more expensive. I don't know about Juneau and Anchorage, but you should not assume that internet is available everywhere in Fairbanks. The place I live now is the first place I have ever been able to get it, and I had to get a dish installed.
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Old 09-02-2020, 09:14 AM
 
Location: Juneau, AK + Puna, HI
10,489 posts, read 7,616,326 times
Reputation: 15924
Quote:
Originally Posted by fluffydelusions View Post
Myself and my fiancee have been considering moving to Alaska for a while (currently in Washington state) but I've noticed many towns/cities don't have much in the way of apartments for rent outside of Anchorage. I've mostly just been using the larger apartment rental sites online but I've just been wondering are these the best means of apartment searching in Alaska? Or is there just not much in the way of rentals up there? I was looking at Juneau for example. We would need to live close to a hospital for medical reasons and I'm assuming both Anchorage and Juneau would be ideal since they are the 2 largest cities but Juneau doesn't seem to have many rentals available. I also had some other questions if anyone could answer. I know groceries tend to be on the more expensive side up there but how much difference are we talking compared to the lower 48? Also, how about car insurance, Internet, heat, electric etc. Thank you for the help.
My recent experience only allows me to compare with Hawaii. The good news is that everything is cheaper in Juneau except perhaps for rentals, depending upon where in Hawaii one is looking. Juneau has a Costco, so that will help a lot with food costs. Electricity is about 11 cents/kilowatt hour, thanks to hydro electric supply. The hospital is adequate, there is a new cancer center and some specialists are to be found so I think you'd be fine with health care needs. No one is in hospital for Covid presently. Car insurance-try Reuben Willis at State Farm. Your road miles would likely drop dramatically from where you are now. For internet there are a few options. ATT and GCI are two you could check.

I think the cost of living index shows Juneau to be 130% of baseline USA, so it's considered one of the more expensive places to live in the country.
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Old 09-02-2020, 09:19 AM
 
Location: Reno, Nevada, USA, Earth
1,169 posts, read 744,682 times
Reputation: 1559
Alaskaslist and craigslist both have rentals in Alaska, though Alaskaslist tends to cater to the southcentral part of the state (MatSu and Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula).

Juneau: https://juneau.craigslist.org/search/apa
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Old 09-02-2020, 10:13 AM
 
Location: Juneau, AK + Puna, HI
10,489 posts, read 7,616,326 times
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You could check out FB marketplace for rentals too. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...s/?exact=false
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Old 09-02-2020, 10:37 AM
 
Location: Interior Alaska
2,383 posts, read 3,083,114 times
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@Ark: your electricity is $0.11/kWh?? Holy ****. That is literally half of residential in Fairbanks. It's $0.223/kWh here.

I am going to toss out there that I do not use Alaska's List just on principle. The guy is a crook.
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Old 09-02-2020, 12:58 PM
 
Location: Wasilla, AK
2,795 posts, read 5,591,491 times
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Housing in Juneau is always tight...
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Old 09-05-2020, 12:53 PM
 
Location: Not far from Fairbanks, AK
20,271 posts, read 37,040,759 times
Reputation: 16386
Quote:
Originally Posted by riceme View Post
@Ark: your electricity is $0.11/kWh?? Holy ****. That is literally half of residential in Fairbanks. It's $0.223/kWh here.

I am going to toss out there that I do not use Alaska's List just on principle. The guy is a crook.
Electricity from GVEA is quite expensive in Fairbanks, and is getting worst each day. But one of the things the OP mentioned, "being close to a hospital for medical care", is what stuck on my mind. While there are good doctors in Alaska, our medical care is one of the most expensive in the US, and not necessarily the best. In fact, insurance companies allow for receiving medical care such as surgeries to be performed in Seattle and other places in the lower-48, because it is cheaper and better. Even a hip-joint replacement in Utah, costs a fraction of the same procedure in Fairbanks or Anchorage.
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Old 09-06-2020, 06:20 AM
 
Location: on the wind
23,077 posts, read 18,456,708 times
Reputation: 74656
Quote:
Originally Posted by RayinAK View Post
Electricity from GVEA is quite expensive in Fairbanks, and is getting worst each day. But one of the things the OP mentioned, "being close to a hospital for medical care", is what stuck on my mind. While there are good doctors in Alaska, our medical care is one of the most expensive in the US, and not necessarily the best. In fact, insurance companies allow for receiving medical care such as surgeries to be performed in Seattle and other places in the lower-48, because it is cheaper and better. Even a hip-joint replacement in Utah, costs a fraction of the same procedure in Fairbanks or Anchorage.
BUT, you need to check your specific insurance. Some will pay transportation based on the specific procedure, others "decide" whether they'll pay for medically-related travel by other criteria. It can seem pretty arbitrary. I've heard from others (for example) that their insurance would pay travel for a hip replacement but not a knee replacement, diagnostic procedures for some conditions, not others. Check with your insurer before making plans. Don't assume!!
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