Larry Ficek

Larry Ficek is the owner-broker of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Dream Makers in Wasilla. Licensed in Alaska since 1997, he holds the GRI (Graduate, REALTOR Institute), CRS (Certified Residential Specialist), and ABR (Accredited Buyer Representative) designations and has spent nearly three decades working land and residential transactions across the state. As owner-broker he runs the brokerage day-to-day, mentors the team, and personally handles the deals that need it most — usually the ones with title issues, easement disputes, unusual financing, or moving parts that span multiple jurisdictions.

Larry built AlaskaLand.info because the standard MLS layout was designed for home buyers, not land buyers. Acreage, terrain, soil, well permits, road access, and subdivision activity — the things that actually matter when you're evaluating a parcel — deserved to be front and center. The brokerage maintains its own data layers across the Mat-Su and Kenai Peninsula boroughs: 789+ tracked platting cases, soil buildability scores from USDA SDA data, well permit histories, and parcel ownership chains. None of this lives in a single place anywhere else, and Larry is hands-on with the work that keeps it current.

Larry holds an FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate, the federal certification required for any commercial drone operation in the United States. The 60-question knowledge exam covers airspace rules, weather theory, drone systems, regulations, and emergency procedures, with recertification every two years. For real estate that means we can legally capture our own aerial footage of land listings — terrain, access, neighbors, and the features you can only see from above — without scheduling a third-party pilot. He is also hands-on with construction: multiple renovation projects including a 10,000 sq ft commercial building, where he coordinated the city, fire marshal, engineers, architects, and subcontractors through full permitting and buildout. That experience translates directly when a client is evaluating a property with permit history, structural questions, or development potential.

Technology has been part of how he works for a long time. Larry stays current on what's actually useful — including AI — and integrates new tools when they help rather than because they're new. Clients benefit from almost 30 years of pattern recognition paired with current technology that surfaces gaps in transactions: missing easements, well permit issues, undisclosed liens, soil concerns, plat boundary disputes. The goal isn't AI for its own sake; it's making sure nothing important gets missed.

Outside of work, Larry is an avid boater — Prince William Sound primarily, with recent exploration into Southeast Alaska. You can reach him at (907) 312-1056 or Larry@AlaskaDreamMakers.com.