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The first step when Kyle and I decided we were going to move to Alaska was buying remote land. We knew we wanted off the beaten path, year round access, space, and as few neighbors as possible. Our families helped us look for parcels and choose areas of the state to look in. Researching remote land even brough us to Alaska for our honeymoon and had us purchasing land just a few short months later. Call it luck or good planning, our place out here checks every box on our list!
Put Eyes On Your Land
This isn’t something that we did ourselves, but after seeing several people unknowingly buy swamp in my neck of the woods, it’s probably the most important tip. If you can’t make it to the parcel yourself, the next best thing is contacting locals to check it out for you. A real estate agent or friends and family in the area are good options. We ran into a local on our honeymoon who was an agent. He told us about our place and said it was exactly what we were looking for.
Look For Water
Okay, I know this sounds weird, just hear me out. Water is necessary for life, but it can also cause problems when looking at remote land. From accidentally buying waterlogged swamp to having a raging river to cross in the rainy season. Many counties (or boroughs in Alaska) have assessor websites. These allow you to look at parcels on a map, and overlay certain keys. When researching our land I used the KPB Assessor website to overlay wetlands. This allowed me to double check that our land was high and dry. It also allowed me to look at how wet the trail coming in was, which brings me to my next tip.
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This is the closest access I can take from our beach to get to the road. I love the fall colors!
Make Sure There Is Year Round Access
This is a hard one to be sure of. It’s important to check and double check, during different seasons especially. Even with our place, it technically has year round access by trail. What passes for a trail in Alaska wouldn’t pass for one in many other places, though. In summer we have to drive the beach, otherwise we’d need to winch through miles of swamp. We only made that mistake once!
Read: Yup, We’re Crazy. And Also Idiots
Check For Covenants And Restrictions
If you’ve ever heard any HOA horror stories, covenants and restrictions are just as bad. What they do is prevent you from using your land the way you want. Some are as simple as no dog breeding or livestock. Others can make things really expensive. I once looked at some acreage 45 minutes outside a town that said the only roof type that could be used was clay tile. Those cost a lot themselves, but also require more engineering in the build. Often the least restricted land is zoned Agriculture, so that is a good place to look.
Get A Title Search And Insurance
This is important in purchasing any kind of property, but especially for remote land. Usually these deals are cash or owner carry with no mortgage or banks involved. A title search will make sure that the seller owns and has rights to sell the property. It will make sure there are no liens or back taxes to surprise future owners. Easements across the property is also something a title search would check for. The insurance is a onetime payment that will protect the buyer in case the title search missed something down the road.
High Tide Homestead participates in affiliate programs and may earn commissions from qualifying purchases on this post. See our Disclosure page for more information.