Family considering Anchorage move (Fairbanks, Fox: transplants, houses, income)

[Dakster]

I almost bought a house with a small two bedroom apartment on it... It was self contained - own kitchen and such. The rent brought in *only* $1k a month.

[riceme]

*snort* y'all don't even want to know what I pay for my cabin. lol

[riceme]

Ohhhh, I totally read that wrong, lol. 400ft^2 cabin, 1000 gal water, 5 gal hot water, basically there's like a trailer sized stove & sink (which is "challenging" cos I love to cook), big porch, in the boonies, great (lack of) neighbors... wayyy less than what Dak said for rent.



Livin the dream!

[flygyrrl]

If you are a female professional, be warned. My experience, as a female professional, has not been positive. The gender bias here is still extreme and men who are less qualified and experienced are still favored in the workplace, even if they are outright incompetent. Now you know.

[rhiannon67]

Originally Posted by gogogo35

What is the culture like in Anchorage? My husband and I both have graduate degrees and are very liberal (will vote for Bernie or Hillary, pro-choice) and love the outdoors. We have lived in Portland, OR, and Austin, TX, and love those places; I am from Montana, so I have been around rural and more conservative areas as well.

My ideal: A colder climate (currently living in TX) where we can easily find other liberal families, not a lot of pressure on kids (e.g., overscheduling), easy access to mountains and nature.

Anchorage seems to fit the bill on the outdoors parts, but I wonder whether we could find similar families.

Thanks.

We're pretty similar in most things, including educational background. I'm a registered Dem but have become more moderate the older we get. My husband and I will be voting Dem in the election, though. My husband, son, and I are also big outdoor fans as well.

Just moved up from WA over the summer. I don't see a lot of evidence really pointing to Alaskans being extreme right wing types or anything. Anchorage is said to be more liberal than the other parts of the state. We don't especially feel out of place or anything. It helps to love the cold, even if this winter we're not getting much in the way of any real cold lol

The most important thing is to ensure you have some sort of decent job lined up before you come. If you don't, things are a lot more expensive here than they are in Portland so you'll run out of money a lot faster than you might think if you don't have a source of new income coming in.

[pittsflyer]

You are lucky. IF someone chose to live that far out and worked in anchorage they would more than chew up the rent savings with car maint/replacements and 2-3 hrs spent in traffic every day. Thats a high price to pay for a little bit of rent savings. You will litterally be living for the weekends because by the time you get home and eat you will have to go to bed to get up and spend and hour to an hour and a half commuting in. My 7-10 min commute allows me to get chores done and other projects during the week so I have alot more flexability on the weekends.


This statement is by no means meant to indicate that the rent prices are appropriate but only that a brutal commute is much worse. With out the impending collapse it was an untenible lose lose sitaution unless you were lucky enough to find a job in the valley that actually paid something (at least 80-100k ish).


People living in the valley and working in anchorage are not living the dream, no matter how much they tell you they are or have brain washed themselves to believeing it. Even if the car replacements every 5 years is worth having your big yard and nicer house, the loss time commuting is lost time that is not subjective.

Originally Posted by riceme

Ohhhh, I totally read that wrong, lol. 400ft^2 cabin, 1000 gal water, 5 gal hot water, basically there's like a trailer sized stove & sink (which is "challenging" cos I love to cook), big porch, in the boonies, great (lack of) neighbors... wayyy less than what Dak said for rent.



Livin the dream!

[Haolejohn]

Originally Posted by gogogo35

Thanks, everyone. Yes, I've never visited. We will definitely visit before we make any decision about this. Thanks for the offer to DM/PM, phlinak -- I will do that if/as we get more serious about it.

I assumed you have never been here b/c of the question about a liberal city. I apologize if I seemed rude, but I guess you were stating the obvious, and I think we get tired of the same questions asked with slightly different slants.

What you are looking for can be found in Anchorage. Anchorage is a very liberal city IMO. Once you visit, you will come to the same conclusion.

What I don't understand (and we did this) is why people want to move up here without visiting. Of course we don't live on the road, which makes it even more crazy/stupid.

As far as Pitts fear mongering....there is some truth to it. The economic issue here is about to explode in a negative way. There is simply no money, and our source of money is drying up.

I'd suggest waiting a little bit of time before you make the move up here. Be patient. Make sure your jobs are reasonable up here.

Alaska is beautiful, but beauty can only go so far when you have no job and it costs $5k to move somewhere (unless you just go with the clothes on your back and a suitcase).

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

Originally Posted by gogogo35

What is the culture like in Anchorage? My husband and I both have graduate degrees and are very liberal (will vote for Bernie or Hillary, pro-choice) and love the outdoors. We have lived in Portland, OR, and Austin, TX, and love those places; I am from Montana, so I have been around rural and more conservative areas as well.

My ideal: A colder climate (currently living in TX) where we can easily find other liberal families, not a lot of pressure on kids (e.g., overscheduling), easy access to mountains and nature.

Anchorage seems to fit the bill on the outdoors parts, but I wonder whether we could find similar families.

Thanks.

Why not just go to Vermont? It sounds like it has everything youre looking for. It's rural, it's liberal, a colder climate, easy access to mountains and nature.

And, also, it's not near as isolated or so far away as Alaska, and Vermont would be much less of a culture shock for you and your family than Alaska would.

And if you ever wanted to, it would be so much easier to get up and drive out of Vermont than it would be to get up and drive out of Alaska. In much of Alaska you don't have to go very far out of town until you run out of road.

Me personally, I think I would feel extremely claustrophobic in both Alaska and Hawaii, soon after living there for awhile. But that's just my thoughts.

[Dakster]

Ricme - That rent situation of yours is very tempting. IMHO - it's unfair to my kids to be that isolated even though I know we would like it.

And like Pitts said, living far out and working in Anchorage is not great. If the kids were not in school and we were both retired it's one thing.

I know two people that live together and both commute to different jobs in Anchorage with one vehicle. Since they car pool it helps, but every 3 years they put around 100k on this car, trade in, start again. They use a cheaper, economic vehicle for this commute. But it has to get replace every 3 years. I guess because of the fact it's two people commuting,15k miles per year per person isn't horrible.

I would say, well maybe the quality of life, bigger house, bigger piece of land for less is worth it - but look at the quality of life you use in that 1-2 hour each way commute.

[riceme]

Yup, my rent situation is super sweet. I don't know anyone with quite as good of a situation. I mean, it's no palace and it is small (which suits me fine) but it's nice. Oh, and I don't pay for heating fuel. Whaaattt??

I am not really isolated at all. I am only a little more than 15 miles NNE of Fairbanks... I've never actually clocked it, I think maybe 17?