Unreal Estate Game: Alaska
 

Assume that you idly buy a state lottery ticket while getting a doughnut at 7/11, and voila! You're a winner! You win your choice of one the five houses that will be shown.

I'll give you five houses in a state, and you vote on the house you would take.

Background rules:

Assume that your job situation won't need to change - you can find an identical job or work from home or whatever, so jobs don't matter.

Consider the house itself and the location and anything else that's important to you (schools, restaurants, lot size, etc.). Feel free to do a google map search to check out the neighborhood and the area.

You cannot sell the home. You can live in it as long as you like, but when you move out, it reverts back to the state as a prize for a future winner.

All houses will generally be in the $900,000 to $1 million price range.

All maintenance and utilities and taxes are cost-neutral compared to your current home.

If you wouldn't move into any of these homes, you can instead accept a cash prize of $50,000 (tax free).

Today's state is Alaska. Here are your five houses:

Anchorage - http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...9718507#photo0

Big Lake - http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...1-01868#photo0

Chiniak (Kodiak Island) - http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...7-19108#photo0

Homer - http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...0-71440#photo0

Ketchikan - http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...4-97750#photo0

Big Lake.

That house is dope man

Big Lake is quite nice. I'd do that for a couple of years then give it up. I need civilization sooner or later.

man...this one is tough. I'm going with Ketchikan

but Big Lake is bad ass too.

I like the Ketchikan house, but I've been to Ketchikan and it is thousands of cruise passengers everywhere all day, and the businesses are all catering to tourists. Blechhh!

Big Lake has a nice house but the neighborhood around it can be sketchy

Anchorage - house decent but large city. IF you're going to live here why not get away from it;

Ketchikan - beautiful house but: 1) lots of rain; 2) city has two parts - blue collar/industrial and tourist - and they don't really mix; 3) Ketchikan has some weird crime; 4) Ketchikan does not get a lot of snow and it is really beautiful but you're on an island and you have to fly or take the ferry to get anywhere, including a ferry to the airport (look up bridge to nowhere);

Homer - great town and great views. I'd probably take this one simply because of the surroundings even though I'm not as wild about the house. But if you like lots of bald eagles and want to fish, Homer is your place;

Kodiak - great location but the house is for shit. You'd have to fly to Anchorage to get anywhere but life in Kodiak would be fun. It's large enough for a large Alaska community but it's still the Bush. great hunting and fishing and wildlife

Big Lake


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Homer. Love that area and the views are unmatched. I can deal with the house.

Taking the cash until we get to a warm State.

Voted stay. Again, too cold.

The Big Lake house is nice. But forever? Short days. Long cold winters. Not how I plan to spend the rest of my life. $50K me.

I lived in Anchorage and I fly up and fish in Homer.............Homer.

Also home of the Salty Dawg Saloon, I love that bar.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...oon_1850px.jpg

My rankings:

#1 - Ketchikan. Awesome views, and really nice outdoor spaces. I can't figure out what's going on in Picture #20, but I can deal with it. I think maybe the house has low curb appeal from the front, but is nice in the back. I particularly like this option because I suspect it's a lot warmer being so far southeast in Alaska. It's really more like the Pacific Northwest than my traditional view of Alaska. And the fact that tourist ships come in a lot is a good thing. They import money into the area and also probably increase the quality of local restaurants.

#2 - Homer. I really like the look of the house, and it's pretty near a town. I think the ferry comes into Homer so you could also make it to other places without flying. And those views are spectacular.

#3 - Big Lake. I really like the interior of the house and I really like the views. It's relatively convenient to the city as well. The only downside is that the exterior of the house is so so, but this would still be a nice place.

#4 - Anchorage. Having an airstrip is kind of cool but I wouldn't use it. There are some nice views and the house is nice, but it doesn't wow me or anything and it's smaller than most of the other choices. I like the location near a city, though.

#5 - Chiniak. While complete isolation is intriguing, I suspect it's a pain in the neck. The house is a scraper for the most part, so you're getting 24 acres of land that's inhabited by gigantic carnivorous bears. I liked the town of Kodiak when I visited a few years back, but this house is way too isolated and not luxurious at all. I do wonder if you drive to Kodiak or take a boat, though.

How did you like Anchorage? I passed through a couple of times, and I'll just say that I hope I wasn't in the nicer part of town.

Do you ever fish in Chenega? That's one of the most gorgeous places I've seen, and the salmon kept trying to jump onto the ship.

Been there myself. Great bar on the Homer Spit.

Ketchikan..

Ketchikan

No way I live in Alaska the rest of my life. **** that noise

Most of the south coast seems to have pretty nice summers, and it's gorgeous. Winters might get kind of long, but I think I could live there.

I can handle sketchy locals with a shot gun and a few bribes. My main question would be - how long is swimming season in Big Lake, if at all?

Can I call dibs on Unreal Estate Game: Iowa!!!

Do you want to propose the properties? Feel free if you like: the only rule is that we're generally looking for a diverse array, with costs between $900,000 and $1 million.

Don't be scared. January 2015, I flew out of Montana (36 degrees) into Austin Texas (31 degrees) while my buddy in Sitka Alaska (48 degrees) was fishing.

Lol you must have been downtown around 4th Ave? A lot of bums hanging around in that area.

I went up to work on the north slope for a job "a buddy" had lined up. It turned out "the buddy" was full of crap, but I decided to stay up there for a year anyway.

I got on as an inspector for Subaru and would inspect the cars when they would come in on the ships from Japan for any damage.

Anchorage has changed a lot form the time I lived there. When I was up there in the mid 80's it must have been an 80/1 guy girl ratio and the one was ugly. In that regard it was a long year.

Last time I was up there I saw a lot of good look ladies. If it would have been like that when I was living there, I probably would have never left.

I primarily fished/fish the Kenai for salmon and Homer for Halibut.

Lakes will be free of ice between mid May and early June. Swimming stops around mid September and even that is for the die hards. So pretty much the summer.

Like most Alaska areas, the quality of neighbors can vary from block to block, even within a block. Very nice houses next to property with a trailer on it. Big Lake is the meth capital of Alaska so you'd definitely want your shotgun. Weird thing is you could drive down the street and see really nice houses yet across the street are run down trailers, complete with cars on blocks.

Lived in Anchorage and fish in Homer? You have an Alaskan feel about you, so to speak. Just outside of Palmer myself. If you're ever going to be in the Valley on a a Sunday with th Chiefs playing, PM me. I'd be glad to buy the first round or two.

What made you move?

What's the male to female ratio?

Bring your sex robot..profit/bump

Pretty close to even now. Something like 50.2 men to 49.8 women.

I actually moved from KC to Anchorage as a kid and lived there for nearly all of my schooling and visit my parents up there every year.

Anchorage has pockets of nice parts in the city, but downtown is certainly not one of them. Growing up there was ok...long summer days were amazing but the long winter really sucked (hence why I now live in San Diego).

Ketchikan, with Homer a real close second.

And I'm thinking a million bucks is a ton to spend on a squatter shack and a hunting lodge in Chiniak, even if you do have all the island to yourself.

Yeah, the Chiniak 'estate" is a dump.

Even that broken-in looking mattress couldn't sway me. Lots of nice looking 2x4's though!

I'd definitely to the 50K over all that land and shanty.

I'm 50K all the way in these polls based on my current situation, but I pick based on "if I had to live there". I still can't believe the average price for a home in KC is $111,300.

All very nice but I will take the 50k and stay where I am

Big Lake

Yeah, I keep thinking about how to fix that, but at the same time I want to give people an out if they don't like any of the properties or locations. So you may have to continue with your assumption to play the game if you're completely settled and happy.

I debated whether or not to put the Chiniak option in there, because I had to kick out this cool property in Soldotna http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...9_M75230-43984. But I wanted to have a more isolated place in the mix for any of our isolationist people. But apparently we're less worried about isolation than comfort for the most part.

Wow, that's funny to hear about Big Lake, because that's a pretty darn nice house to be in that type of neighborhood.

Yeah, that place would have been a contender, for me at least. Kind of a cookie cutter house, and the bathrooms need a remodeling, but the views and access to the streams would have been worth it.

No bush house?

http://r.ddmcdn.com/s_f/o_1/DSC/uplo...own-S2-bio.jpg

I'm just assuming I would take it for an extended getaway, but leave and let the lottery give it away again after a couple of years. Just enough time to write that novel/screenplay/manifesto I've been meaning to knock out, or plan my revolution, or start my new religion, and then head back to where I came from.

I can't think of any place I'd move to forever. I really liked Wellington, New Zealand when I worked there, but it is small, and very isolated, and my limit would be right at about two years before needing to come back.

Probably a pretty noncommittal way to participate in this game, but I think it is fun! I enjoy seeing the properties and views.

big lake or ketchikan were the two that appealed to me the most

loganberry is overpriced..been on market approaching 2 years

im gonna have to go with the 50G as written though...i dont wanna skew the results and add anything into them.

If I had to take one it would be big lake or maybe ketchikan close 2nd though

I went with Big Lake. Loved the house and the lot. Homer was a very close second though.

That works for me on the beverage. :D Move up there or move back to Montana?

Either. There does seem to be a lot of traffic between AK and MT.

Yeah there are a lot of similarities, that state is definitely in my wheel house. Moved up to work on the North slope, moved back because the North slope gig turned out to be a wild west story and at that time the girls were few and far between.

Ketchikan for me but I will say I was nderwhelmed with the options. I was sure $1m would get you... more... in Alaska.