City trash no way to live (Anchorage, Kenai: estate, jobs, housing)

[lostlife]

I am a 27 year old Man and i have a 29 year old wife and 2 kids 6 years old and 4 months old boy and a girl. I live in memphis,Tn a trashy, crime ridden,and soon to be desolite place its going down hill fast there are murders every day drugs sold at the schools, kids in the public library getting robbed for there shoes the list goes on , low paying job's its just a trashy place. Well the hurricane in new orleans lbew me up here i lost my home in new orleans it was worse then memphis is with crime,ect. every since then i have wanted to move my family to a state were the air is clean the crime rate is not so high you have to sleep with a gun and the people are just nice like so i have heard Alaska i want to rais emy kids in a city not the boon docks but live like 20 mins from a city like ankorage or another one a suburb. I want my kids to enjoy the outdoors as i do i love to fish and hunt i can fish for days. I think Alaska can offer this it has great outdoors but it has city life to were would i need to look into moving to a suburb of Ankorage or what i also have worked on oil rigs out in the gulf of mexico for years so i know a good bit of oil drilling are there many good jobs up there in the oilfeild any info would be great. My plan is to get our tax money and move up there. i need somewere to start looking though i dont want to live way out in the middle of nowere but i would like to live were i could be in the middle of nowere in a couple hours if i wanted i am thining the suburbs somewere up there also is it hard to find work up there whats the pay like as much info as possible i am moving there no dought so please help out one of your future residents i just want to raise my family the right way

[freeedom]

lostlife, hopefully Rance,Mal_fisk or Rainy,and the rest of the local residence will be on line soon,and they wiill be able to direct you and answer all your questions for you. I always applude a person wanting to better their surroundings. Not always easy to do at times, but sounds like you have a good plan for you and your family. Sorry to hear you lost your home.

[Rainy]

I don't think an oil job would be that hard to find up here but I don't work in the industry.

I'm not on my regular computer and don't have the link to the State Employment service site though I know Rance has it.

If I were going to live in a suburb of Anchorage it would be either Palmer or Willow but the valley is getting pretty bad in ways.

[mal_flisk]

Lots of jobs for oil rig types, still a lot of exploration going on.

[Rance]

Exploration will be winding down, but there will be plenty of work for a while yet.
Try www.nabors.com or www.asrcenergy.com or http://www.doyondrilling.com/ some of the local drillng contractors.
http://www.jobs.state.ak.us/ may have something.

[lostlife]

i see a couple of places were Ankorage is getting bad on crime is that true and if so do you live there or would you live there. also if you had the money to move anywere in Alaska that was not in the boons were would you move to fairbanks,junea, or were i am not talking about being rich and moving just if you had the money to make the move were are the schools good and the jobs desent thats all i need thanks for all your help

[Rance]

Personally I recomend somewhere on the Kenai Peninsula...south of Anchorage...if your looking for small town atmosphere or rural but along the main highway system.

[lostlife]

how far is that from a city with things to do and what the job market like up there and how much are the homes there like a 3br 2 bath home here you can get a desent one for around $150k-200k are the houses really expensive up there

[Las Vegan Cajun]

Compared to New Orleans housing in Alaska is going to seem very expensive. I left New Orleans long before Katrina had a chance to blow me away, that was in 1980. Landed in Phoenix, AZ for 11 years and now in Las Vegas for the past 16 years.

I am also looking into Alaska in about 5-6 years when I retire. The housing in Alaska seems like a bargain to us that live in Vegas. But I'm afraid you are going to go into mild shock when you compare it with New Orleans.

Check out this website http://websrvr1.alaskarealestate.com/ for housing in Alaska.

[Rance]

The peninsula has some very modern smaller towns (some here call them cities) and you can get to Anchorage within 2 to 4 hours depending on where you start from.
I bought land and built my own place. I really don't pay any attention to realestate or pricing.
Visit the local paper at www.peninsulaclarion.com and they have realtor listings and links.