Richard Stryken picked his home site from up a tree. One look at the view from the branches settled where the house would go. He started putting the land together in the 1990s, just outside Palmer, Alaska. Now he's 68 and retired. The 147-acre compound is for sale at $12.5 million.
Stryken is Alaskan born and raised. He was born in Fairbanks and spent time along the Bering Sea. For the family compound he picked Palmer, a small city about 40 miles from Anchorage, ringed by glaciers. He says the landscape's “grandeur” drew him.
He calls the place Ultimate Alaska. There's a single-story main house with three bedrooms and a garage with a two-bedroom apartment above it. There's also a helipad. He put in vegetable gardens and an orchard for his wife, Colleen. The land looks out on glaciers, mountain ranges and the Northern Lights. Their grown children live close by, along with 13 grandchildren. In deep winter, Palmer sees only about five hours of daylight. The family skis, goes to winter festivals and sits in the stands at the grandkids' indoor games. In spring they snowmobile to the glaciers and get the orchard ready.
The next house came first
He's selling to downsize. About an hour away, he has built a lakefront home, and the couple expect to spend most of their time there. The ask is $12.5 million. That makes it one of the most expensive homes for sale in Alaska, says listing agent Troy Dana of Fay Ranches. The size is the oddity. Most luxury homes in the area sit on 1 to 3 acres. Dana says Palmer prices have risen for a decade, with rich buyers from other states coming for land and privacy.
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This is Retirement (M10) with a Housing (M6) twist, and it's a downsize done in the right order. Stryken built the next home first. It's about an hour from the compound, so the move shrinks the acreage and keeps the family within reach. He's selling at 68, on his own clock. Nobody made this call for him after a fall or a hard winter. With the next house ready, the sale of the old one doesn't have to be rushed. That's the whole advantage.
The cost of doing it this way is carrying two homes for the gap. Taxes, insurance and upkeep on 147 acres don't pause while a buyer thinks it over. If a downsize is in your plan, the thing to check this week is your cash reserve against that gap. Price a year of carrying costs for both homes, and see if the reserve covers it without selling stocks in a bad month. A forced, fast sale hands the buyer your price. Nobody shops for an umbrella in the downpour. If the reserve comes up short, bring the numbers to a review and we'll look at the options with you.