Looking for Advice on First Purchase

[Justin Driskell]

Hello BP community, thank you for taking the time to read my first post!

I have just started on my journey of REI, as my wife and I have started looking at buying our first property, hopefully around next summer. I have spent the last couple weeks combing BP's forums and articles to start getting my feet wet.

I am most interested in rental properties around my area. That being the case, we have considered house hacking a duplex for out first purchase, with the hope of breaking even with expenses/rent. I have a couple questions for this post.

My first question comes down to evaluating properties. I have started trying to piece together an excel file to evaluate possible properties. My goal is to get all of the major factors included in this, including loan payments, expenses, vacancy, rent, CoC, and cash flow. I am sure I am missing things, any advice on what else I can include? My hope is to dial this in in the coming months to get a reliable system together.

My other question may be hard to get an answer for, but it relates to the market I am in. Anchorage is somewhat unique in the fact that we have a large military presence, as well as a lot of seasonal population swings. Does anyone have experience in any similar markets? I would love to get in contact with any BPers that have experience in the Alaska market.

Thanks again for reading!