Scouting Trip - Help Me Plan! (Anchorage, Fairbanks: rental car, real estate, rental) - Alaska (AK) - City-Data Forum

MouseBandit · 07-01-2016, 11:17 AM

We might do a scouting trip! With the hubby's schedule suddenly all freed up, it could happen.

For just the hubby and I, how many days would we want to allocate to scout areas surrounding Talkeetna, Homer, and Seward? I'm hoping to hear 3-5 days, LOL. ;-)

Do businesses, like real estate places, stay open later than 5pm, when it's light so late at night? ie - how much can we cram into each day?

We'll have to leave my 4 little ones if we do this, and I am not a fan of doing that for any longer than necessary (although I can't justify an extra $1800 airline bill to bring them either, LOL). I would want to make this trip short and sweet, and save the sightseeing for once we've moved and have the kids with us.

Any tips on making the most of a scouting trip?

We wouldn't be looking to find *the* house to buy, just nail down for certain what area we want to buy in and hubby wants to look at a few houses in our price range ($120k-$150k) so he has an idea of construction styles and what he can expect as the fix-it-up guy.

I'm expecting we'd be coming towards the end of July, start of August, if we do this.

Thank you!!
MouseBandit

AKStafford · 07-01-2016, 12:00 PM

You'll need a rental car. And booking one last minute in the summer will be expensive. Lodging in the summer is expensive too...
I would come for as many days as possible. Fly into Anchorage. Head to Talkeetna overnight there. Then the next day head to Seward. Overnight there. From there, to Homer and overnight.
If I remember right you wanted something close to mountains... Maybe check out Sutton on your way to/from Talkeetna.

6.7traveler · 07-01-2016, 08:09 PM

If your price range is $120-150k you will probably want to focus on Talkeetna or anywhere on the Parks highway north of Willow, possibly Sutton (which isn't really much of a town but real close to the mountains) and Kenai/Soldotna/Sterling area which is about an hour or so north of Homer on the peninsula. Also check out Anchor point about 15 minutes north of Homer. Your money will go much further in those places. It's been a while since I've looked at houses in Homer, but I can't imagine there are a whole lot of quality choices with acreage in Homer in that range. Your paying for the view down there.

Maybe you'll find something, but I would think $200k+ is the starting point for a house with acreage in Homer. I could be wrong, as it's been a while since I've looked. I do know there are view lots on the bench area off east end road you mentioned in the other thread that are $100k with no house on it.

MouseBandit · 07-03-2016, 01:05 PM

I've been watching the MLS for over a year now, and there seems to be a decent supply of small acreage (>5 acres) with some sort of home on it in the $150 price range. THe bigger the home, the more "fixer-upper" they seem to be, LOL. Further out East End from Homer seems to be more on-target for us. I'm not expecting a gorgeous log cabin at that price bracket, but something to get us through the first winter without sleeping on top of each other, and having a decent little piece of land that we can try our hand at homesteading on. We are pretty well set on paying cash for the property and having a REALLY solid reserve of cash, especially with the economic shift up there in the recent years. Carrying a mortgage could very well sink us if things get worse, and we don't see any reason to risk that. Also, should we find that we are totally unsuited to life up there, we would need enough to relocate the family back down here and get started all over again here. So, for now, funky house, smaller house, that's okay. I do know that our money will go further the closer we get to Anchorage, but being 4 hours away is already really closer than we'd like, haha! Talkeetna is on our list of places to scope out, but the job situation there for the husband seems like it would be tighter. Anything too close to Anchorage or Fairbanks isn't going to be a good fit for us. My sister has property down on POW, but it seems like it would be harder to homestead down there (gardening, livestock) because of the rain, and needing to either fly or drive through Canada to get to the rest of the state seems cumbersome. Maybe after a few years, we'll find ourselves changing our thinking on all that, but for now, the goals area: being far away from big city or military installation, on the road system, within an hour of a hospital, within 2-3 hours of a supply store (which would likely be located wherever a hospital is), a few acres land suitable for gardening and livestock, close access to salmon and other fishing, job potential for the husband. Homer seems to suit these best.

I would love to think that we'll find the perfect town and home right off the bat, but I am thinking that it's much more likely we'll start off in Homer, spend a few years there getting the hang of things and letting the kids get older, tougher, bigger. By then we'll have ventured out around the state a little more and have a better idea of what we love, what we don't, what we're good at, where we need a safety net, etc. Then, we can maybe get a small cabin somewhere else, hopefully off the road, and try it out. THEN we could go about finding our "perfect place" and by then have more capital to invest in it. That's our current thinking, anyways, LOL!

6.7traveler · 07-03-2016, 03:19 PM

Here would be my suggestion that I think you should at least consider. If you're set on homer, you can be a caretaker for a REALLY nice house with a bay view for the winter for someone who goes back south for the winter. This is a very common arrangement down there and you can find people who will rent to you for very cheap from say Septemberish to Aprilish just to not have the house vacant. That way you're not rushed into tying up all of your assets on something that's not a perfect fit, illiquid and possibly a hard resale and you're not tied down to a year long lease. Then you would have time to look as some of the best deals are by word of mouth and not necessarily listed with realtors. You would know the area much better as well and know which areas you want to focus on then.

If your husband is a carpenter you could probably come out way ahead buying your own bigger, better lot and building yourselves the following summer. You'd also have more time to see what area of homer you really like. Even if you don't build and buy instead you always inevitably find places you like better after spending some time in an area, and potentially get a better deal. I hate renting as much as the next person and would rather own, but your future selves would probably be happier in the long run if you toughed it out and rented for the first winter. Patience is a Virtue.

MN_man · 07-04-2016, 08:21 PM

"This is a very common arrangement down there and you can find people who will rent to you for very cheap from say Septemberish to Aprilish just to not have the house vacant."

I've heard this too, most recently from a fella in Cooper Landing, and also in the past in the Seward area. But...WHERE does one look for an arrangement like this? I did a little looking into it last year and came up with nothing. Anyone have any hints??

Haolejohn · 07-04-2016, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MN_man

"This is a very common arrangement down there and you can find people who will rent to you for very cheap from say Septemberish to Aprilish just to not have the house vacant."

I've heard this too, most recently from a fella in Cooper Landing, and also in the past in the Seward area. But...WHERE does one look for an arrangement like this? I did a little looking into it last year and came up with nothing. Anyone have any hints??

Alaska isn't like the lower 48. You don't find these deals online. You find them word of mouth.

MN_man · 07-04-2016, 11:07 PM

"Alaska isn't like the lower 48. You don't find these deals online. You find them word of mouth"

doesn't surprise me...so how would you expect an out of towner, visiting on a scouting trip for a few days, to find a gig like that? I don't ask flippantly, but would be interested in looking further into something like that and will be on the KP again from late August thru mid Sept, so I'll have some time to poke around. But, like the OP, I won't know anyone and don't have much clue where to start.

Haolejohn · 07-04-2016, 11:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MN_man

"Alaska isn't like the lower 48. You don't find these deals online. You find them word of mouth"

doesn't surprise me...so how would you expect an out of towner, visiting on a scouting trip for a few days, to find a gig like that? I don't ask flippantly, but would be interested in looking further into something like that and will be on the KP again from late August thru mid Sept, so I'll have some time to poke around. But, like the OP, I won't know anyone and don't have much clue where to start.

It's all about connections. A typical tourist isn't going to find a gig like this in a couple of days. Normally. Craigslist. Run an ad. While you are visiting. Network. Run an ad.

MouseBandit · 07-11-2016, 10:58 AM

Well, scouting trip is on hold. Renting the first winter and buying land is looking like a good idea. Hubby wants to learn a lot more about the differences between building up there and down here, of course. He got laid off like 3 days after he made the Alaska decision, LOL. More time to finish up the house and property projects here, less cash going to the stash though. Should be back to work in about 6 weeks, if the house doesn't sell before then.