I had mentioned this in a few other threads and it seemed to have some interest so figured I’d make my own.

It is going to be drawn out without a ton of action at first but then going to really take off this summer. But I wanted to document the whole process.

So if you’ve seen some of my other threads you know I like to go to public use cabins. I enjoy getting off grid and just living the simple life in a one room no electric no running water cabin. The problem with public use ones is you are subject to availability; which in recent years seems to be getting harder and harder. It used to be you could book one a week or two in advance without much issue. Recently trying to get one for a Friday or Saturday night can be difficult. One I looked at was booked every Friday and Saturday for 4 months.

Also with these you obviously can’t leave anything there. So you have to bring all your stuff with you and back out again which can be a challenge with kids and dogs and all the stuff that goes along with them(most of the ones I go to you cannot drive a highway vehicle to). Plus they aren’t “yours” so it just isn’t the same feel.

So with that I decided I wanted to buy or build my own. Kind of half looked at some built ones in the past few years. Found one that was for sale for a long time. Nice cabin on some acreage and it was lake front. The problem was it had a river crossing involved to get to it and ultimately that just wasn’t something I wanted to deal with. Especially since it was another ~ 4 miles after the river crossing. So you are boating an atv across then continuing on. Not an easy task to get to your property.

So that lead me to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources Land Sales.

Every year the state auctions off a bunch of parcels of land. They range from being in town to needing a plane to get to them.

Some areas actually start out as recreational cabin claim staking areas. Where you can go out to a certain area and stake your own claim(then of course the state appraises it and you pay for it). Then the state parcels up the remaining area and sells it.

About 2 years ago my friend bought several parcels near where the Elliot and Dalton highway converge. He tried to convince me to buy a few there as well so between him I and his other friend we’d own basically the whole area. I thought about it but in the end it wasn’t where I wanted mine to be.

So how exactly does buying land from the state work?  

Like I said some areas they initially open up to claim staking. Then they parcel up the rest.

The parcels they create go into the annual land auction.

They mark them all and give brochures and maps so that you can go check them out before you bid.

Attached File
Attached File



A sample subdivision:

Attached File



All parcels have a minimum bid and it is a sealed bid auction. So you basically bid what you are willing to pay and don’t know if anyone else bid at all or if someone bids more.

You can bid on as many as you like, but you can only win 2. And they open the bids based off how many bids per parcel there were. So say one parcel has 30 bids on it. That one will be opened before a parcel with 10 bids or 3 bids. And you win the first 2 that you win and then are disqualified from the rest.

They live stream the whole opening process for all the parcels in one many hours broadcast.


Also I should say this whole process is only open to Alaska residents; so sorry lower 48ers can’t just buy land in Alaska through this program.

If a parcel does not have any bids then it goes up for sale through an over the counter purchase program. Starting out over the appraised value(30% then 15% then appraised value) and going down based on time if no one buys it. Attached File


The state will also finance the land for you if you want. Which is nice because it’s near impossible to get a bank to loan on a recreational remote property.

Attached File



Also there is a one time 25% veterans discount(it’s a little more complicated than that but I’m not going to explain it).  Meaning if you are a veteran you can use a 25% discount once in your life on one parcel. Even off your bid amount(say you bid 20,000 and someone else bid 15,000 you won and you can take 25% off your 20,000 bid). But you can only do that once.

So that is how the land sales work. I will get into the land I bought in coming posts. But that’s enough typing for right now. And as I said it will be kind of slow going for a little while as I won’t start building until the snow is out but will start designing/acquiring materials/ hauling it out there before then.

I will also be looking for advice on design/ materials etc. Some things are going to have to be budget purchases and upgraded later(such as the wood stove as I can’t afford the $4,000 wood stove I want this year on top of buying the land and the materials to build the cabin).

Ost

In. Looking forward to watching this process. Gonna be sweet!

Very cool OP.  Excellent write up so far.  Keep it comin’

Good luck to you sir.

In to follow this build.

I've always wanted to live in Ak, so this will be awesome.

We fucked up and did not do the stake land up near McGrath years ago.

We moose hunted up there every year till the moose herd population fell. It has since come back.

Was a good long two day boat ride.

Keep an eye out. There is new land every year. I’d imagine this years will be announced soon. While I already bought mine if land near black rapids comes available you’ll see a new thread titled “Rosta97 moves a cabin 250 miles”.

Will keep an eye on the state land sale.

Looking forward to the cabin build.

We have some friends up there now, basically living in a small shed, shitting in buckets. They moved up there in the Fall with almost zero time to build anything. Didn't plan it well in my opinion. 3 hours of daylight right now, the rest of the time, it's the 10x15 cabin/shed. They have plenty of squirrels but can't eat them. They feed on the pine trees and taste like turpentine.

They live in a beautiful area, lots of freedom and open air but basically living one step above the property level. Hopefully next summer, he'll get an actual house going with a living room, kitchen and at least a bedroom with some type of bathroom.

Idk about all that. If it makes them happy then good for them.

This won’t be a permanent residence; at least not at first. Will be a recreational cabin for weekends and a week here and there.

My wife is hell bent on making it our permanent residence but likely won’t be until the kids are grown.

Tell them to smoke or dry the squirrels then cook them.

Lots of people make the mistake of rushing up and thinking they can build a big building asap.
Also need to learn to do things in the dark.

Nothing wrong with a honey bucket.

OST

We've looked at the sales, on and off....reality is we're too fucking old at this point.

Looking forward to the thread as it develops, good on ya.

In on page 1!

Well that sounds awesome.  Auction is only open to Alaskan citizens, right?

Yes it is only open to Alaska residents.

This sounds awesome! Hopefully you got a nice lot with a good view of the water...

Having a second home or a place to get away is amazing and we are also just starting our our journey!

Here my view as it sits. Lots of work to be done before it's going to be a thing but at least the land is bought...
Attached File

Tagged

Alright so let’s talk about the land I did get.

So what was I looking for?  

Want a recreational cabin for now. Somewhere to spend weekends and a week or two here or there to disconnect from technology and reconnect with nature. My wife is hell bent on making it our permanent residence in the future but likely won’t be until the kids are grown.

Wanted something off the beaten path with hunting and or fishing nearby. Ideally wanted something off the road system to avoid anyone just going by. Wanted something that we could easily get to on a Friday night after work so we could go on just a regular short weekend. For example we found an awesome cabin in Homer with an ocean view; but at 580 miles away it would be a once maybe twice a year thing. That distance is like if you lived in New York City and bought a cabin in Halifax Nova Scotia.

So we decided we wanted something within about 120 miles from our house or so.

So when the new land auction came out we reviewed all the options and there was really only one area we were interested in and it hand 8 or so parcels available in the area.

The area is about 85 miles from our house up in the hills and in good hunting area(we found caribou remains on the property when we went to check it out).

It seemed like a good balance of everything we wanted so we decided to bid on 2 adjacent parcels. One that was 18 acres and one that was 16.

We ended up winning the 18 acre one and losing the 16 by about $500. Of course hind sight being 20/20 you kick yourself “of course I would have paid $500 more for it”. But remember it was sealed bid so you had no idea if anyone else even bid and you don’t really want to pay thousands over appraised value if you don’t have to.

I kinda of went back and forth do I just eat the deposit and give up the 18 since I really wanted more acreage than 18. But ultimately decided 18 would be good enough.

Looking around at land out there it seems a lot of people buy it and then never do anything with it. And seems most people don’t visit theirs in the winter at all. So hopefully won’t be an issue.



So let’s talk a little more about the parcel I did get. Like I said it’s about 18 and a half acres. Has other land owners with similar size parcels on the left and right. But no one behind it for near as makes no difference forever(in reality it’s like 25 miles ).

The parcel itself is about 75 miles from the Arctic circle. It sits at about 3,000ft of elevation and is entirely south facing.

The closest town to the parcel is the town of Central, AK.  Population 38. It’s a big gold mining town with the miners only living there in the summer for the most part. It has a bar/restaurant/gas station/ hotel/ general store/laundry mat(it’s all one business in the same building) and a post office. Central is about 50 road miles from my property. Fairbanks(where I live now) being the next closest at 90 miles or so.

Attached File


The weather there can be unforgiving. It’s a cold windy bitch in the winter. Will hit -90 with wind chill a few times a winter. In the summer it’s nice. Wind keeps the mosquitoes away while it’s blowing. Blue berries everywhere. The winter starts early and end late. This is a picture I took near there in late September Attached File


Common wildlife is caribou, moose, grizzlies, wolfs.

So one of the better parts is in Alaska if you aren’t in a borough(think county) you don’t pay property tax and my property is just outside the borough line so there is no property tax. I have made an MS paint to illustrate this.

Attached File




The land isn’t road accessible; but the trail to it can be driven by a 4x4 truck or SUV in the summer. This is a big plus for hauling stuff out. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get my trailer up it, but my truck will no problem.

It isn’t plowed in the winter obviously so snowmachines are the only way to get to it in the winter.

It is about 6 trail miles from the road.

Here is approximately the property. The pin is the corner and I estimated the lines from there. Attached File


You can see the trail to get to it on the map as well.


Here is a picture I took on the ground when I went to check it out. The land is approximately where I am pointing. Attached File

I would build a log cabin.
Also a sauna out of logs.
Wild blue berries are but black berries are best in my opinion.



Would love trees a bit closer for logging and a cabin. Only thing wrong with right where I am at.

Subscribed!

In for the dreaming

Would make the move, but get too cold as it is here in Idaho lol

That's definitely not an area I would want to be.

I know few people who have land in that area or closer to Talkeetna.

One even made a V-log about it.

I would rather be further south but I know just about everything close to the water is accounted for.

Definitely tagging this. I bought some land up there two years ago sight unseen. I have yet to have made the trip to see it. Hopefully this summer.

that’s some nice land out there. Probably a few good spots for gold too, I spent a lot of time mining Harrison creek for placer as a kid.

Plus you know the caribou hunting is good out there.

Yeah I’m building a log cabin. All the trees on the property are too small for that though.

Im hoping most people think that.


Talkeetna or whatever would be great. But it’s not easily drivable on a Friday evening.

Schwing!

Nice

tag

What are the measurements on the trees?

Lots of cabins here were made with what was available.

Cool.

I'd love to do something like that, but it probably won't ever happen.

Attached File


Because I really want it finished this summer I’m just going to buy the milled wood. Will likely cut a few for the roof beams.

Thats amazing. Would younever go out there in the winter? How are you planning in dealing with water and sewage?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but on the state land sales...  Nonresidents can purchase land that the Alaskans didn't want at the end of the current year's offerings.  I remember looking at some smaller parcels that no one had bought a while ago.

Cool L

Tag

What was that member's name that built that little cabin up in AK and then suddenly died. He was a retired Army Helo pilot IIRC.

Nice guy and he an I went back and forth on his solar set up. He really helped me out….

Aviator?

That was him. Nice guy and was only retired a few years iirc before he died.

Black flies? Deer flies?

Skeeters and no-see-ums are the worst.

Little small but would make a good sauna.

Build your hearth, set your pipe for the type of stove you desire. Then throw together a barrel stove and dry stack whatever to make it work temporarily.

Line the bottom with fire brick and live your best life homie.

I’ll definitely be there in the winter. For now since it won’t be a permanent residence it’s going to have an outhouse and just haul potable water out with me.

Long term want a rain water collection and filtration system.

I don’t recall seeing that but it looks like that may be true. a quick look doesn’t show any residency requirements for the parcels that are still available over the counter. (All the ones left you need a plane to get to).

Looks beautiful!

Maybe not so much that white shit in September though.

Tag.

The thread is not archived, so OP might find some stuff useful.

https://www.ar15.com/forums/General/Bought-land-in-Alaska-building-a-cabin-UPDATE-12-Feb-2020-/5-1233275/?page=1

Op, legit question as wife & I are looking for off-grid property and Alaska is on my short list.

If you know, what are the purchasing terms for resale?
Can an Alaskan native who bought land under this program, resell it in a year? 5yrs? never?
I ask, because the property we just purchased in FL has a 1 yr hold on resale tied to the contract, so its a thing.
TIA.