Greetings from Alaska

[John Starkey]

Hello BP community,

My name is John Starkey; colleagues of mine in Alaska as well as myself are extremely blessed to have found this website. The helpful advice and nationwide networking opportunities are important factors to me as I look forward into the future of real estate investing. Having this site as a reference will be extremely taken advantage of over the next several years.

A little about me: I am a 23 year senior at the University of Alaska Anchorage majoring in finance. (Investment concentration) I currently work in the banking industry and have a respectable foundation in investing and what it takes to become involved in the world of real estate risk taking. For the past year I have rigorously studied the art of real estate investing, holding, selling, and cash flow maximization. This coming summer 2013 is when a set partnership I’m involved in plans on making move number one into the real estate market.

I look forward to the advice you all have to give and if any of you are interested in investment projections or dividend calculations for your current real estate markets please feel free to ask.

[Randy F.]

Hi John,

I see you plan to rehab, hold and flip in Alaska. If the housing bubble burst, somebody forget to tell Anchorage! Many of the market advantages that exist in much of the lower 48 dont apply here. In our mainly service oriented economy, jobs and wages have been fairly insulated from the downturn and the sellers market, while loosing some ground, still persists.

An example is Seascape Subdivision in South Anchorage. Home built there in the late 90's, early 2000's, sold new in the $240K -$260K. They are now listing at $320 and up. Owners who sold after just two years pocketed $40K- $60K. So while valuations have held, they are still inflated. Especially when you consider these are little more than T1-11 clad boxes built on eight to twenty feet of peat. In some instances, they excavated down to clay and poured footers, and under the mere 2 feet of clay... Peat! Many of these homes will see foundation/ structural issues throughout their life. Much of Anchorage is built in muskeg, so sub-grade crawlers and basements are something to pay much attention to.

My opinion is that long term hold is the way to go here. Market conditions, lack of inventory, and high rehab costs, make rehab/flip a tough row to hoe.

I certainly dont posess the depth of knowledge and experience so genrously offered here on BP, but I would be more than happy to share any Anchorage market specific knowledge that I have with you.