Planing to move to Anchorage AK in late June from New Jersey

[Metlakatla]

The advice in this thread was geared toward someone in semi-retirement.

Not someone in the military (most military people don't immediately buy homes). Not someone moving up for a job (which is becoming increasingly rare these days).

It's someone moving up with their retirement money. That kind of move warrants seeing a place firsthand.

By the way, it's not so much the home itself someone should see firsthand but rather the community, as others have said. We know about videos/facetime, but everyone here was talking about Alaska in general and not specific homes.

Funny how you conflate fear with common sense, but I guess your livelihood depends on it.

[GnomadAK]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

If someone can't afford to visit Alaska prior to purchasing property, they can't afford to live here.

Air BnB and renting can work in limited circumstances but aren't automatic answers when things don't go as planned.

This right here. It's one thing if the military says you are going but to take your retirement money and buy a condo (in a poor market condos are murder to sell, my son and his girlfriends condo took over a year to sell) is asking for unhappiness. There is no substitute for an actual look, especially if you've watched too many reality shows.


"why do you guys always try to talk us out of dropping everything and moving to Alaska?" Because it is truly like no other place in the US and normal rules don't apply. There isn't really only one Alaska, SE is different from SC which is different than the interior and the true bush is so far outside of most peoples existance it may as well be Mars.

[AlaskaErik]

I would never buy a home without first looking at it, scoping out the neighborhood and talking to potential neighbors. An agents definition of a busy street may vary significantly from yours. I also check to make sure that getting in and out isn't a problem. But most of all, there is no way you can conceptualize how a house will work for you without boots on the ground inside of it.