Best house in the worst neighborhood

[Brian Christopherson]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Wasilla.

Purchase price: $164,000
Cash invested: $1

1900 sqft Bi level split
3 bd
1.5 bath

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

This was our first home. We had been renting in Anchorage, and when we went to purchase we couldn't afford anymore than what we were currently living in. So me moved to a smaller area and got a much better deal for our money.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

This was just a traditional home hunt. Most of the negotiating on this purchase was with my wife. I wanted either a major fixer upper, or a multi family. My wife was done living in an apartment and wanted someplace finished enough to be safe for our 1 year old to be crawling around in

How did you finance this deal?

Traditional VA

How did you add value to the deal?

We improved this one greatly over the years.. really to much. when we went to sell it a few years ago what I wanted for it and what the market would support were not the same thing. so we refinanced it off my VA and into a conventional cash out loan and turned it into a rental. we will likely sell it within our 5 year window, but we'll see. its currently cash flowing about $500 a month

What was the outcome?

TBD...

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Biggest Lesson on this was not to over improve a property. To be fair we did what we did to the house so that it was a better place for us to live, but at the end of the day, the outcome was the same

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

We worked with Les Bailey and assoc. on this deal. I would be happy to do a deal with them again

[Andrew Powers]

Congrats! For not-your-forever-home, there's a balance between making value-add improvements and making the house your own.. I have to catch myself sometimes from doing work that's not worth it long term as I won't be there forever.

[Jonathan R McLaughlin]

@Brian Christopherson congrats on turning this into something of a win. For long term success, the opposite is better: get the worst house in the best neighborhood

[Jamie Rose]

Well done Brian! Better to have some time in the market and start the learning !