Full disclosure. My mother, nephew and sister live in Anchorage. We have some Anchorage roots. My father after he was disabled moved the family into Anchorage for about 10 years from 1987 to 1997 when he moved up to Fairbanks.
My younger sister bought a large 4000 square foot house in midtown on a relative bargain(300K) for the time. She was one of the state economists and felt that the house would accrue value. It took her two years to sell that place at a loss. The midtown area is just as bad a Phoenix. She had several breakins and her neighbors were robbed and then murdered. This is what used to be a posh area of town close to the Boney Courthouse and her state office. Sure there are places that are nice up on hillside. But make no mistake, the old Anchorage that was just a big small town is gone. It is rough in several areas.
People might be in denial but it was a great place for a long time. Eventually it just got rough. We used to go into town to get a good porterhouse steak at Black Angus Steakhouse- we were homesteaders and not enlightened enough to know about Club 29 or Simon and Seaforts. I betcha that you might get robbed if you went there today and your steak would not be top choice meat. Might not even be cow. People who want to call hate can do so. It is NOT the way it used to be.
Not to pick on your sister, but an economist should understand property swings and realize that house probably had only a couple swings where it was underwater. I guarantee it would be worth more today by quite a bit...
