Best place to buy a house in Anchorage??? (Wasilla, Eagle: estate, condos)

[Magicus]

Hi,

Im wondering where the best place around Anchorage is to buy a farm (my wife and me prefer a "mountain home" or hillside house with some kind of land for our dogs and lifestock? Wasilla is nice but also kinda adrive with the gas prices. We also thought about eagle river and chugiak. Does anybody know any places else?

[Barkingowl]

How far outside town do you want to be?

[Magicus]

I dont want to live no more than 25-28 miles range. It all depends on the house and land... - if its worth for the ride to town...I really love the houses in Wasilla is there anything between eagle river, chugiak and wasilla?
I will be goin to Anchorage University for a while and then probably work on an arfield as aviation mechanic...
I dont want to be to far from work. I looked on realtor.com and just found some in the 225k range... Does any local person know a good place around 25 miles from Anchroage?

[cari_chelle]

Perhaps you should visit Anchorage and its surrounding communities. I don't know what you mean by "livestock" but don't expect to be able to purchase large amounts of land in the city limits. I don't know of any "farms" in the city. Most of the places in Anchorage that can be built on already have. There are plenty of great houses and nice neighborhoods - esp. on Hillside and in South Anchorage... but I think most are above the 225K range. Anchorage is also a town full of condos, duplexes, row-homes, and multi-units. Its a great place - but perhaps different from what you are expecting.

I wouldn't recommend a commute from Wasilla to the University of Alaska Anchorage, if you want to be less than 30 miles from town. Plenty of people make the commute on the Glenn Highway everyday... one of my co-workers commutes from Wasilla to the gates of Elmendorf every day. He said it takes about 45 minutes in good weather - and his shift starts at 5am so he misses the bulk of the inbound traffic. Its about another 10 minutes to UAA (without traffic!). The highway is maintained in the winter, but an accident can shut the only route to Anchorage down.

Eagle River an Chugiak are both beautiful... as is Girdwood, to our south. You're more likely to get s little bit of land if you move to those places. I considered buying a house in Eagle River, but found mostly row homes with small yards in the 225k range.

There are some great off-leash dog parks - such as University Lake Park. It is a great alternative to a "farm" if the goal is to wear your dog out.

My point - a visit to our city will help you decide if it is really what you're looking for in a new home.

[Magicus]

thx for your help - i will definetly come and see anchroage and its area before byuing a house... eagle river soudns good or chugiak

[cari_chelle]

Good plan.

[lellenn]

For 225K you're going to get a townhouse or something like that unless you're in the valley.
If you want a house house with a larger amount of space, you should expect to spend quite a bit more than that - consider that the median home price in Anchorage hovers around 300K, and you can see it's a spendy proposition.

[Glitch]

Don't forget to check out Birchwood, Peters Creek, or Eklutna.

[Chilkoot]

This is the main MLS site for Alaska. It's not sponsored by any individual realtor so you won't get a lot of adds.
www.AlaskaRealEstate.com - Statewide MLS system - Homes, Land, Commercial, Businesses