Alaska Rental Property + Part-time Residence

[Greg Goforth]

Hello, BP Community!

I am new to real estate investing and I am interested in purchasing property in South-Central AK to be used as both a rental and a part-time residence. I am considering either an STR (e.g. AirBnB/VRBO) or multi-family property. My goal is to have a part-time/vacation residence with the rental income covering (or at least mostly covering) the property expenses, and of course, cash-flow positive would be ideal. I am specifically interested in Anchorage but open to the Mat-Su Valley or even Homer (more on that below). I would greatly appreciate any advice and insights into the multi-family and vacation rental markets in these area, and the general feasibility of my goal.

To provide some background:

Living in Alaska has been a life-long dream of mine. I lived in Homer from 2011-2012 and absolutely fell in love with the area, however, building a career took me out of the State and it has been difficult to find opportunities to come back. I have vacationed in AK a handful of times since and I would love to spend more time there, even if only on a part-time basis. I currently live and work in the greater Seattle area but have been working remotely since last March and my employer has indicated that we are likely going to work 100% remote post-pandemic (with the exception of office visits and in-person meetings only as-needed). Returning to Homer would be the dream but I am warming up to the idea of Anchorage for practical reasons: easier access in/out of the state, more potential renters, more amenities, and a fairly centralized jumping off point for exploring the state. 

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!