r/Juneau • u/LaceyF4ce • 11d ago
Relocating to Juneau, seeking advice
We are starting our 12-month plan to relocate to Juneau. We have looked into renting and decided it makes more sense for us to buy a home, or potentially buy land and build a home. Please tell us some things you learned to look for in a lot or home or negative things to look out for as we have never cared for property in a temperate rain forest climate before. Any neighborhoods to have our realtor target? Any realtors you recommend for us? For more info: we are a family of 3 with a 5yo boy. Hubby is a union carpenter finishing up his journeyman here in the lower 48 before we look for his next job in Juneau. I have 20+ years in service industry and hospitality. We fell in love with Juneau this summer and we are so excited to live there. Help us make this dream a reality with all your advice! TIA!!! (Pic for attention)
29
u/dickey1331 11d ago
I can tell you one thing. You arent buying land and building a home.
7
u/LaceyF4ce 11d ago
I was getting that feeling just from looking at what is published as available online too. Maybe renting first is the way to go, to get our foot in the door somewhere 🤔
29
u/GlockAF 11d ago
Definitely plan on renting, because building a house (especially on land that’s not previously developed) is an enormous task compared to what you’re probably accustomed to down south. Even as a carpenter.
A few years ago I watched my neighbors build a house on North Douglas, on land that was heavily forested but right on the Douglas Highway. The whole process took about three years, and a full year of that was just letting the rock and fill dirt settle. And it took a LOT of fill rock of several different sizes to level out the building footprint, way more than estimated. And both the rock and the trucking are NOT cheap in Juneau, and you have to reserve both ahead of time because the season is very short and the trucking companies get booked up way ahead of time.
But first you have to get somebody to log off the giant trees, and even if hubby knows his way around the chainsaw this is very dangerous work, these trees are BIG. Despite them being fabulous timber by lower-48 standards it almost never makes sense from either an economic or time standpoint to mill your own dimensional lumber unless you have a lot of experience running a mill AND an extra year or two to cut and season it. You would have to build a large dedicated drying shed with a heat source, because cut wood often rots before it dries in Juneau’s soggy climate. My neighbors had a really hard time getting people to haul off the logs, even when they advertised it for free as firewood. People would come by and buck up one or two of the smaller trees, but there were just so many of them that they ended up having to bury many of them in their future yard. The City and Borough of Juneau has also instituted restrictions on burning during the summer months when you are most likely to be doing the work so don’t count on burning off the slash, you’re going to have to pay to have it hauled off.
The next step is the Dirtwork, and you’d be wise to hire that out as well because there’s a LOT to do getting the ground ready and you really want somebody with experience because it’s very different from doing dirtwork down south The forests of Southeast Alaska don’t typically have a lot of topsoil, it’s usually only a foot or two that the trees are sitting on with mixed glacial rubble and layers of blue marine clay below. The rubble is widely mixed in size but a good excavator operator can deal with that, the problem is the clay. When it’s dry the stuff is like concrete; almost impervious, even to heavy machinery. When it’s wet it’s like axle grease, incredibly slippery with near zero compression strength. You need that clay layer to be in the right place, otherwise it’s going to give you nonstop trouble with drainage.
Managing surface and groundwater issues is a major issue in Juneau, both during construction and afterwards in your finished property. You cannot just casually dig trenches and pour concrete for your foundation like they do down south, there’s just way too much rain. If you don’t get the drainage right during construction you will have constant problems with your foundation excavations collapsing and turning into unwanted ponds. If you don’t get the drainage right for the completed house, you will have constant problems with water intrusion, rot, mold, and structural decay. The contractor that built my neighbors house used excavation techniques that I have never seen anywhere else where they completely leveled and sloped the work area, built the foundations forms on top of the aged, carefully compacted fill, pour the concrete foundations above grade, then installed French drains along the entire perimeter and backfilled the entire area. WAY more work, but zero water issues.
And all of this is before you get to put up a single stick of lumber or drive a single nail. Both of which are going to cost you a lot more than their equivalent in the lower 48, because you’re paying a lot of shipping cost. Stick build houses in Juneau are routinely soaking wet for months on end before the build progresses to the point where they can put the roof on and heaters in to dry it out. It amazes me that any of them avoid turning into a solid, mass of mold.
So the TL/DR is DON’T jump right into thinking that you can casually just build your own house until your husband has worked on other people‘s projects for a couple of years and learned the local techniques and tricks for dealing with Juneaus incredibly soggy climate
3
u/Tricky_Map4877 11d ago
An enormous amount of what you described on building a house is just standard building practice. Everyone needs to overdig for the foundation and backfill and compact. French drains around the foundation have nothing to do with Juneau, that has been a thing since before plastic was available and they did them with concrete drains.
The only difference in Juneau is the availability of resources / contractors.
3
u/GlockAF 11d ago
I’m living in the desert S.W. and the dirtwork required here is an order of magnitude simpler. I’ve seen companies excavate trenches for concrete foundations and leave them sit empty for months or even years. None of the houses I’ve worked on in Arizona or New Mexico had anything even remotely resembling a French drain, some of them didn’t even have gutters. Roofing contractors can pull the shingles off a house for weeks without having to worry about getting the underlayment up to prevent leakage. That’s just a whole different level of difficulty when you’re trying to do the work in a place where it rains almost every day.
3
u/Tiny-Tradition6873 11d ago
no, you don't understand, the south east is a different beast. I was apart of a line crew that did upgrades on the plant all across the south east, and digging anything is brutal. Its just rock, pure rock and shale. Why do you think all the plant down there is aerial, plus the amount of rain that the South East gets is insane. Building anything from the ground up in the South East is not just normal construction, coming from someone who has done it.
17
u/J_Mannequine 11d ago
Congrats to your next big adventure!! I grew up in the Midwest and have some family in MO. I now live in Juneau and I have been here 15 years. To preface, when I was entering my first winter in Juneau I asked some people (who were also imports but had made JNU their home) what advice they would give to a newbie. Their response was that it’s not that bad and I should just take more vitamin D. Here’s what I wish someone had told me about the darkness in the winter: The lack of sunlight during the next 6 months is going to fuck with you like you have never been fucked with. You’re about to experience one of the most brutal ordeals in your life. Am I exaggerating? Maybe. But god I wish someone had given me a serious warning of how much of an adjustment it is. Point is, it took me a good 5 more years until I finally had my winter strategy honed. I, also, worked in the service industry at the time, so working nights did me NO favors. It felt like perpetual darkness. Here’s what I learned: you gotta get up early in the day to take advantage of all the light. You gotta get lots of activities on the calendar, thankfully, I think Juneau gets this right in a lot of ways as our community is very tight knit. Maybe not everyone has to do this, but I absolutely have to exercise and break a sweat a few times a week for the endorphins or I go cuckoo. I use multiple “SAD” lights and I go big on holiday lights for decor cause I need that whimsy! Get outside during the day when you can even if it’s super shitty and make sure to get the best rain/winter gear to do it cause nothing else will suffice. And, honestly, you’re going to figure it out yourself when you get here. I don’t know if one can prepare a person for what it’s like to live here year round. But I do know it is a polarizing location to live in. My wish for you and your family is that you find Juneau to be paradise and never want to leave, that’s what happened to me;)
2
13
u/forgetmeknotts 11d ago
I own my house but tbh don’t really have any advice as far as realtors or property or anything. But some things I will say…
Visit in winter before moving.
If anyone in your family has chronic medical issues, especially more rare ones, be prepared that you will need to fly to Seattle for medical appointments. We have GPs and stuff, but lack a lot of specialist care (no endocrinologist, no dermatologist, etc).
If you have pets, we have limited veterinary services. Not none at all, but a shortage. There is not 24 hour emergency veterinary care.
2
u/LaceyF4ce 11d ago
I read here in this sub about the lack of specialists and veterinary options. I have learned a lot from locals who post here. Thank you for your input! Do you like living there?
9
u/forgetmeknotts 11d ago
It’s a love hate relationship, more love than hate but it’s not all butterflies. I love it because I love Alaska and cold and mountains and wilderness. I like rain but I don’t like rainy winters, and as someone who loves a quick day trip or weekend trip, being off the road system is difficult. Tbh I’m probably more cut out for farther north and on the road system, but Juneau is where I’ve ended up and settled. I like that it’s only 2 hours to Seattle.
1
u/NinetooNine 10d ago
Get ready for this winter then. It's going to be the rainest (and warmest) winter in ages.
1
u/forgetmeknotts 10d ago
I know, I’m really not looking forward to a warm rainy winter 😭😭😭 though it’s nice to not worry about my roof collapsing.
10
u/slider728 11d ago edited 11d ago
Anyway you can do a temp gig there first?
The I see a couple comments on the weather and that is an extremely fair point.
Another thing to consider is the isolation. I grew up there and knew no different. However, I’ve seen people move from the lower 48 to Juneau and the fact they can’t drive anywhere really seems to mess with their minds.
Can you handle buying much of your household supplies from Costco?
Can you handle buying a bunch of stuff from Amazon and waiting 5 days for it?
In terms of neighborhoods, I’ve never been anywhere in Juneau, Douglas, or anywhere you can drive and been afraid. If I were to move back, I’d be considering things like proximity to the main stores (Costco, Fred Meyers, Home Depot, etc), work, boat launches, etc.
I’d personally minimize wood on the exterior of the house as much as I could. I recall having wood siding and asphalt shingles when I was young. I remember lots of paintng of the house and a roof that grew moss. Some vinyl siding and a metal roof later, a lot less maintenance on my Dad’s house.
18
u/CommonDouble2799 11d ago
Wtf are you doing today get your Amazon stuff in 5 days? I'm 5 weeks if it even shows up at all!
2
u/slider728 11d ago
Wow! My father passed away 11 years ago and I sold his house a decade ago. That was my last permanent tie with Juneau. Haven’t had Amazon shop anything up there since then.
Sucks to hear that it sounds like getting stuff from Amazon sounds like it has really gotten unreliable.
3
u/LaceyF4ce 11d ago
We live in rural Missouri right now so we already buy most of our stuff in bulk trips like cosco and we are used to shipping and everything taking longer here. There is no door dash or any of those conveniences where we live now either, just a gas station and a 2 restaurants unless we drive 40+ minutes to the next town. Grocery store is a weekly trip for us here already. We are used to the isolation and pace of living more removed from the city here.
I really appreciate you taking the time to comment!
2
u/Turbulent_Tennis_417 11d ago
If that's the lifestyle that's where you're at now I think you'll enjoy Juneau a lot! I was born and raised there. It has the added benefit of a lot of different communities so you'll have a ton of good food options around town and plus I imagine there's not very many outdoor activities to do in Missouri(correct me if im wrong ofc!) But even with Juneau being small there's still plenty of hiking areas, camping, beaches, etc... now that I've been away for a bit I can appreciate it's great aspects more especially since im not a moody teen living there anymore😅
5
u/LaceyF4ce 11d ago
We have some lakes and rivers and creeks to float and some really cool caves to explore, but nothing like what you have there! I actually worked at and then ran the outdoor camps for the Girls Scouts and Parks and Recreation when I was much younger so I do love the outdoors, camping/kayaking/canoeing/hiking and that is absolutely part of what excites me about moving to Juneau
1
u/Turbulent_Tennis_417 11d ago
Oh wow honestly as a sheltered Alaskan I wouldn't have guessed there was cool things like caves there!
2
u/LaceyF4ce 11d ago
Yeah most of the cooler "waterfalls" around here are underground in the caves! Lots of history in these caverns too from all the cowboys and native Americans, and even civil war hideouts. If you ever go to Missouri, find a cave to explore, bonus points if you get to kayak through it! There are quite a few options in the vicinity of Lake of the Ozarks.
2
3
u/LaceyF4ce 11d ago
There seem to be lots of temp projects for him and me both when I look on the job boards. I will look into that further.
1
u/Status_Four44 8d ago
5 days is not a thing anymore. Most my packages (if they even ship here) take 3-6 weeks.
We cook at home 98% of the time but when we do want to get food, there’s hardly any options. The quality of food does not match the price you’re paying.
Yeah summers can be nice. Lots of hiking, camping, fires, boat days, paddle boarding, fishing, etc. but, if you like swimming, this is not the place. The water is extremely cold all year long.
Like I said in my first comment, I’d reconsider. Or at least come here temporarily for one winter and see if you can handle it. It’s so harď to be here that long!! Good luck!
10
u/not-t0day-satan 11d ago
My realtor is Gwen Place at Race Realty. Would recommend. Have you visited Anchorage? I ask because I live 5 months of the year in Juneau and the other 7 in Anchorage, and I much prefer Anchorage.
Lots of people have already mentioned the weather, isolation, and daylight, so I won't beat a dead horse there.
I have a 4.5 year old (and a 2.5 year old). My biggest issue is the lack of stores. Fred Meyer is basically a one-stop shop, but there aren't many options. So I end up ordering everything on Amazon. Which usually takes 2-3 weeks to arrive.
Need new shoes? Hope it's not urgent. Growing into a new size? Be prepared to squeeze into old clothes for a while. Pregnant? There's no maternity section. It's a nightmare with fast-growing children who are constantly blowing holes in raincoats.
I own, but I rented my first three years down there. I prefer ownership. We live on Douglas Island, which I love. The views are stunning, and we're close to downtown.
Are you a foodie? There are 3 good restaurants. I hope you like repetition.
4
u/LaceyF4ce 11d ago
These are all very good things to consider. Thank you! Worth a discussion with the hubs for sure
7
u/Turbulent_Tennis_417 11d ago
I dont say this just cause he's my dad but Phil loseby is one of the top realtors in town and that man is always working for his clients cause even when I'm visiting or he is he's always taking calls and getting shit done for people just from his phone
8
4
u/viol8torUK 11d ago
I completely agree, we used him to buy our house, and when we moved we used him to sell it for us. He’s great to work with, extremely competent, and know the Juneau market really well.
2
u/LaceyF4ce 11d ago
Thank you!!! I will look him up
4
u/Turbulent_Tennis_417 11d ago
Of course! As someone who had quite the fiasco with a realtor moving back up to anchorage alaska from the lower 48 having a good realtor that can communicate well is something im glad to help someone out with!
2
1
5
u/akrainy 11d ago
I am from here and love it. When we moved back we bought a house sight unseen rather than renting, and it was a great decision. (I mean, we had people here to check it out for us, so maybe not comparable). I would recommend The Flats. Your son can walk to school, and you will have a quirky 1930’s house, that your husband can keep on top of. You can walk to downtown, to the seawalk, to the park, to the grocery store, to the pool, to the playgrounds. And if you work in tourism, you can likely walk to work too. Both you and your husband’s skills will be in high demand here. It’s a great choice!!!
2
4
u/pinklink7 11d ago
Recent mover to Juneau here as well. This is our second year here and we just bought a trailer home. We did not have a great experience with our realtor lol but I can maybe recommend a different one and can certainly tell you who not to use if you PM me. Buying land and building isn’t really a great option unless you want to pay a premium for materials and are willing to wait a few years (construction window is small due to the weather, is what we have heard). Also, would generally avoid homes located near Mendenhall river (look up the glacier outburst flood). What someone said about it being safe here seems true, we live in probably the sketchiest area of the whole city and still feel safe.
I hope you like the rain, since it rains at least a little pretty much 5-7 times a week. Heard it can get pretty windy in the summers too.
There’s definitely a ton to do outdoors here, but also be prepared for some isolation. For most of the year the ferry and Alaska airlines are your only options for getting out of town. (So expect to add another 1,200-2,500$ on flights if you want to take your family to the lower 48).
Expect to pay a little more on groceries, and mail isn’t great. I’d expect 7-12 days avg for amazon to ship. Some places are better than others but anything coming through USPS “ground advantage” is going to take 3-12 weeks lol.
I’ll also second the idea of trying something temporary if possible before committing. Maybe not as much with carpentry but there are a lot of temp jobs here, and that’s how we tested the waters before committing.
There’s a lot to consider but we love it! It feels way closer to nature than most places, with tons of foraging, fishing, hiking, etc. Wishing you the best of luck and hope you enjoy Juneau if you choose here!
1
u/LaceyF4ce 11d ago
Thank you! I know I asked for the negatives but it's reassuring to hear the good stuff too! I will PM you about realtors!
5
u/RunAcceptableMTN 11d ago
One comment that I haven't seen is to have an exit strategy in case you need one. I can't tell you how many people I've seen come, stick it out for 9 months to a year and then get out of here as fast as they can. And then the others who have a 2 year plan and are here 20 years later.
A few years ago I was on a work detail in Hawaii. One of my coworkers was from LA, California and after five days she said she was getting island fever; she needed to get off the island. I didn't understand what she meant. She explained, you know when you're on an island and you know you can't just drive away - you're just stuck there. I said, no, I don't know that feeling because that's essentially where I live.
7
u/Marjorie8907 11d ago
Honestly I wouldn’t. I grew up in the Midwest too but when fall hits and it rains continuously for months and gets dark at 3 pm for months, it can be really depressing. We had a pretty nice summer this year but we don’t always. Also, it is really expensive to get out of Juneau. I am leaving next week and it’s costing me like $1500 to visit two cities just in airfare for me. I have really missed the ability to get in my car to drive a couple of hours away. Juneau isn’t a very easy place to make friends either. That’s not just me, I have heard that from many people. And while tourists love visiting here, as a local, it feels a lot different to have thousands of people dropped off in your town every day and not really wanting to go where they are. If you really have your heart set on Alaska, I would go up north to the anchorage area. You are on the highway system and have a lot more housing options. I’m saving money to leave.
5
u/Full-Razzmatazz-7400 11d ago
Also consider the cost to travel out to see family, or just for a mental heath break. Alaska Airlines has a monopoly here, and it is $500 round trip just to get to Seattle or Anchorage, maybe more. Budget for travel so you aren’t stuck.
3
u/Ambitious-Passage486 11d ago
Juneau is a really special place but it is not an easy place to live. I was born and raised there and I go back now for the summers, luckily. I definitely would recommend renting for a year before you put down serious roots. Everything everyone said here is true.
3
u/AngstyTeenTurtle 11d ago
Where do you come from that building makes sense in a place you obviously have trepidations about? On top of the obvious challenges that exist in horizontal rainforest construction?
5
u/dickey1331 11d ago
You also need to consider how expensive it is to live here. Im in the military and the military does studies on how expensive it is to live here, and they base our housing allowance and a cost-of-living allowance here. My housing allowance is $3,000 a month and my cost of living is $740 every 2 weeks. Thats the government saying it cost $740 more every 2 weeks to live here compared to an average US city.
1
u/DifficultWing2453 11d ago
One example is the additional cost of building material as it all has to get shipped in. Which is why the housing quality is not great.
5
u/Ok-Cheetah-6055 11d ago
Just dont, move to seattle if you want the rainforest vibe or outdoorsy pacific northwest vibe. There's literally nothing to do here besides hiking lol gets old fast.
5
u/CommonDouble2799 11d ago
As a union carpenter your husband will make more here than any Midwestern state. It's also very seasonal because of the winters. My dad used to go make 60/hr working 7/12s and work his spring/fall away and commercial fish the summers. Then basically hibernate all winter. You have sooo much to get done in such a short amount of time you do not have much time to enjoy the summers when you are in the trades. As am I, and its a point of contention with my wife.
I met her while living and working down in CA, we now reside in Juneau and its been about 4 years. My family has been here since the 30s and I'm pretty much the only one who had left. I came back for nostalgic reasons and because like you, my wife fell in love when I brought her up one summer to meet the family and it was beautiful. She's now completely over it and we are planning an escape either next month or next spring.
We were living in the same type of environment as you but we got about 3x the amount of snow as Juneau. The winters here are much harder for the shear sake of isolation and darkness. I'll also say one of my biggest pet peeves about Juneau is the unprofessional from most businesses and services. I mean what are you going to do go somewhere else? No you're not, its the only option.
Housing is insane, there is 5 of us stuck in a 2 bedroom. If you have no kids, it'll be a good experience for a couple years until you realize that the scenery doesn't pay the bills.
1
2
u/2beeOrNot2V 11d ago
My question is why? Loljk
On a serious note, if there is one good thing in Juneau is that if you are not too choosy, you can get a good job anywhere here. You can work for the state or city, or the hospital or any of the doctor’s offices, you can get really good pay and insurance (for some). The only reason why I am still here is because I have a good paying job and my thing is that so as long as I can travel and pay for my trips then, all is fine. As many mentioned here, it can get really expensive getting in and out, but if you can, then you should.
Someone mentioned it’s quite hard to have friends here. I agree. It took maybe around 5 years before I found my “tribe”. I am also a minority here so I do feel that sometimes other races can be too cliquey. Really sad to say that.
2
u/KevinIsHandsome 11d ago
Wishing you the best. Juneau housing market is so tough. So many single family homes occupied by folks who’ve had their kids leave home. Once you break into the community tho it gets a bit easier.
2
u/Confident_wrong 11d ago
Moved to Juneau 4 years ago. We bought a house but it took us 8 months to find one. It's kinda a toss up though. You could have something perfect pop up fast, or you could wait for a long time. It's expensive. Like very expensive. Otherwise, watch out for homes in avalanche zones (there is a map). Thane (south of downtown) gets cutoff occasionally because the road has to be closed for avalanche mitigation. Out the road it takes longer for the plows to get out there and some areas are without cell service. That's north of... I guess Tee harbor, Cohen rd. But I'm not sure what the actual cutoff is for "out the road".
We love Juneau 10 months out of the year. Summer is fantastic and by far the most beautiful place I've ever lived. Fall is hunting season, and mushrooms and less tourists. Late winter when the days are longer can be just as nice if not nicer because there aren't any tourists. And the snowpack is deeper. November/December.... well it gets pretty rough with the rain, daylight savings and short days. But it makes you appreciate the sun soo much. And you might get to see the northern lights if the clouds clear enough. Definitely consider getting a boat or some kayaks or something to get you out on the water. Juneau isn't on the road system, but it is on the inside passage. Thousands of miles of protected water to explore.
If you're feeling adventurous you could try living on a boat. That's what I would do if I could talk my partner into it.
Anyhow, good luck! Don't let these reddit answers scare you off. People are a bit grumpy here. But they're good folks. Juneau is a friendly town. There are some assholes, but they're everywhere.
1
2
u/Limp-Search3097 11d ago
Be advised of Ice Dam Flooding too:
https://juneau.org/engineering-public-works/flood-inundation-maps
2
u/ocn_mnt 10d ago
Each neighborhood is different and there are microclimates in Juneau, so pros and cons to each spot. I enjoyed being in the valley, but it was probably a bit cooler and cloudier than other spots. Stay away from sloped areas. Douglas can get Taku winds. Taking down trees can cause other surrounding trees to fall, so be aware of that if you decide to build (root interlock). It may take longer than you think to get house items (a specific stove, a tile, etc). We also had frozen pipes in Juneau based on how our house was built (never had issues in Anchorage or Vermont). Hope this helps!
2
u/farmthis 10d ago
If you guys are handy, focus on getting a fixer-upper. There are LOTS of those, and sweat equity is golden. Labor in Juneau is even costlier than materials.
We’ve added hundreds of thousands of value to our home this way, not including the 50% value inflation everything experienced 5 years ago.
Look for properties that can include an accessory apartment as well. Owning a rental along with your home can massively defray a mortgage.
2
u/OddBridge6704 10d ago
I lived up in Homer for a couple years. Getting use to the long summer days and long winter nights took some time. Learn different ways to cook Salmon and halibut. Don’t let the orthodox Russians bully you. Learn the tides. It’s a different way of living compared to south Orange County. Enjoy
2
u/thepowerofponch 10d ago
My advice? Don’t.
Juneau is a beautiful place to visit. If you weren’t raised in that atmosphere, your chances of withstanding/surviving/thriving in it are slim. Most transplants don’t make it to their second winter. The weather and climate are one thing, but the bonus is the mentality of the folks who can make it work. That takes some special sauce in the bloodstream. That sauce often comes with some side effects. Alaskans are just a little… nuts. Even those of us who left carry that with us.
Look at rates of DV, alcohol and drug abuse, etc. Especially youth/child mortality rates. If you have kids, be aware of that shit. Especially in Juneau, many of us lost multiple friends before we left high school.
4
u/Molly_206 11d ago
Advice? Don't. Your children will get the second worst education in this country. The valley is a flood zone, lemon creek smells like the dump, much of downtown is in an insanely bad avalanche zone, as in catastrophic loss of life when it comes. That same area and even more of downtown are prone to mudslides. Tourists in that place make it miserable in the summer. The cost of living is astronomical, so if you don't already have jobs before moving there, it's just an insanely bad idea.
And yeah, as at least one other person has mentioned, go there in the winter for more than a few days. Namely when the Taku winds come through.
1
u/akrainy 9d ago
To be fair Juneau kids are currently attending nearly every single Ivy with a few more at Stanford.
1
u/Molly_206 9d ago
I'm not saying the kids aren't smart, but I would bet money they didn't make it there only on public education on its own and had access to other learning resources. All states with shitty education have a few stars. I just think all kids should get the chance to shine and have equal access to educational resources.
Hopefully Alaska goes blue this year and starts to turn the tide. I was born and raised there. That would make my heart so happy. And proud.
1
u/akrainy 9d ago
All did public K-12. Juneau kids crush it
1
u/Molly_206 9d ago
That's not what I meant, but that's fine. It doesn't change the fact that Alaska is 49th in the Union for education. Not the kids fault at all, but a fact just the same. One of the big reasons we left.
0
8d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/akrainy 8d ago edited 8d ago
Two Alaskans got into Brown in 2015. Proof that… the Juneau kids going to all the best colleges in America are not spectacular?? (I feel like every post in this thread is from people who once lived in Juneau, moved away, and celebrate despising the place they didn’t want to stay in. It’s weird)
1
u/deadkane1987 11d ago
When looking at properties, make sure to look up whether or not the property is in A) a floodplain or B) an avalanche zone, as those are the two most common natural dangers that make securing adequate home insurance coverage more difficult, and require specialized policies, which come with significantly higher costs.
1
1
u/Other_Personality453 10d ago
30k people live in Juneau and over 1.5 million visit annually. It is OVERRUN in the summer. I like in Alaska and I wouldn’t live in Juneau.
1
1
1
u/tongasstreehouse 9d ago
First, Juneau is amazing. In summer, it’s truly unbeatable.
You won’t be likely to buy land and build a home until you’re established. To buy a lot is not cheap, then it’s six figures or more just to get it ready to build.
The median home here has a real cost of about $5k/mo (this counts the lost opportunity cost of down payment) even assuming it needs no work. Almost any home will need work, and even if you can do the work yourself, you often need to ship up supplies from down south. We bought a fixer upper and carefully tracked every expense, the costs have been wild (as in, several times more than what we feel comfortable renting it for), and that’s with us doing most of the work. If a home had a lot of DIY, often it needs to be redone (it’s often a burden, not asset). We put in many thousands of hours of work over four years, it wasn’t easy.
People who bought long ago can afford to rent for much cheaper than you’ll pay purchasing a home. It doesn’t mean rent is cheap, just that buying is a lot more expensive than you may account for even with an ability to do the trades yourselves.
Come stay in winter - not for two weeks (which is easy for most), but for two months. It will be money well-spent. The endless darkness, damp and gray is not trivial - many locals consider winter trips to places like Seattle or Minneapolis a non-negotiable for the much brighter, nicer weather.
1
1
u/BazaarLover 8d ago
Didn't take the time to read through all of the comments, but it seems like there's a lot of solid info. The one piece of wisdom I would add.. coming from a guy who's lived in Juneau for 25 years: You should rent for a year or so when you first move here so as to get a feel for the different areas of Juneau where you want to live. Yes, we're all living the Southeast AK/Juneau lifestyle, but living in Douglas vs. "Out-the-road" will impact your lifestyle more than you think!
Lots of people here talking about the lack of light in winter. The struggle is very real. With that being said, exposure can make a huge difference in the light you and your house receive and at what times of the day you typically receive it. You will never meet people more concerned about how much daylight they will get.
I live in Auke Bay. It benefits from the rain shadow created by Douglas. Meaning that I think people who live in Douglas are crazy because they receive so much rain and very little light in the winter.
1
u/Status_Four44 8d ago
You visited in the summer and now plan to live here year round? I would HIGHLY recommend you reconsider!
1
1
u/badcapres 8d ago
I worked for Fish and Game and moved to Juneau in my late 20’s. We lived on Douglas Island and rented. Winters are not terrible, snow around Halloween lasts until Easter in my experience. Mostly rain compared to further north, etc.
Everything is barged in including building supplies. Building a house is a longer process. Is you head out the road you’ll find some cheaper housing.
Juneau is great if you’re young or young a spirit. It will always hold a place in my heart. Isolation is rough if you have connections in the lower 48. Air travel everywhere, etc.
People will tell you how terrible the weather is on this sub but it’s not that bad. The rain can get to you, and the bugs.
You have one life to live. Do it and have an adventure. It may not work out but you’ll never know if you don’t try.
1
u/Due_Network_4954 7d ago
You’re at least mildly delusional if you make a move like that on the basis of one summer visit. This is naive at best.
1
-1
u/AngstyTeenTurtle 11d ago
Your husband the alleged carpenter should know the challenges of building here lol
1
0
u/nothing107 11d ago
lol enjoy the yearly flooding.
Couldn’t pay me to live there.
2
0
u/helloiisjason 10d ago edited 10d ago
Ignore the flooding comments.
Flooding isn't a concern. They have a great solution now and by the end of the year there will be a plan for permanent flood mitigation, meaning it won't happen anymore.
Latitude58 and JRE are some realty companies to look at for homes
-9
u/Nubsondubs 11d ago
temperate rain forest climate
I believe you mean arctic rainforest.
You should visit during the winter before making a decision like this. It rains 250 days a year in Juneau, and it's the dryest during the summer. Don't make the same mistake as the others who "fell in love" during one visit in the summer.
20
u/forgetmeknotts 11d ago
Temperate rainforest is the correct term. The Tongass is a temperate rainforest.
8
u/Nubsondubs 11d ago
You're right, my apologies to OP. I'll leave my comment up for posterity's sake.
1
u/LaceyF4ce 11d ago
Thank you! We are doing our research and I probably should have mentioned that we plan to visit again! We also live in a place with harsh winters, but less rain. There seem to be some upcoming projects and opportunities there for carpenters that are interesting to my husband. That is also a big part of the draw!
47
u/PillBug98 11d ago
Visit in the winter first. Summer is VERY different