All Forum Posts by: Allen S.

@tim illguth runs a great meetup and REI group in Fairbanks. The chat group just moved from Whatsapp to signal recently... plenty of good discussion on there too!

@Landon Fillmore. Welcome to Alaska!

@Keenan Fitzpatrick and @Jamie Rose are the 4-plex specialists.   There are definitely parts of town you will want to be knowledgeable about before investing there:  Mt View... it works for some, but you need to know what you're getting into!  Fairview can be hit or miss but there are definitely some better options there.  The Valley (Palmer and Wasilla) also have some small multi-family options... talk to @Tyler Bobo or @Joseph Gugel in that market.

The two primary meetups in Anchorage are the Landlord's almanac put on my @Kassandra T. with RPM Property Management and REX hosted by @Kevin C..  In the Valley Tyler Bobo also runs a meetup ....   I think all three have gone virtual this past year, but hopefully they'll move back in person soon.   There's also a great group out of Fairbanks led by @Tim Illguth, but unless you end up moving to Ft Wainwright that might be less applicable.  It's a much different market up there.

Good Luck!

@Keenan Fitzpatrick? @Jamie Rose?  These guys are the experts!   Agents and investors both, and very knowledgable on that market segment....

@Scott Grace - depending on the details of the loan that you use to acquire the property, you may be better off getting a commercial line of credit to tap into the equity. Rates and terms are super low right now, so I am assuming that your first loan will be a pretty good deal, and the LOC will allow you access to the additional equity without having to pay interest on it until you need it. Just another option to put in your bag of tricks!

@Gernot Bucheli - For example: If you own a dry cleaning business, as well as the building that the dry cleaner operated out of.  You would need a business license for the dry cleaning business, but not to own the real estate.   As a real estate owner, I don't see the need to have a business license at all.  Unless you are conducting a business, which you are not from the sounds of it.

@Gernot Bucheli - are you conducting business or simply owning real estate?   We have investment property in Alaska but there is no need for a business license to own it or operate it.  If you owned the business that is inside of your property, that would be a different story, but to have a license just to own property seems unnecessary to me.

@Azavyon McFarland you've got a deal in Anchorage???  Plenty will buy...  I'm only interested if I can beat out @Keenan Fitzpatrick and @Jamie Rose!  But yeah, I'll buy too!

@Connor Dunham - You make valid points and it's never wise to underestimate the FED.  As much as we may lament their macroeconomic policies.  That being said, I'm not terribly fond of acquiring max debt at any point in time.  Which is as much a risk-limiting decision as it is a yield-seeking decision.  I do think that there will be pockets of opportunity in AK, but we won't see the boom that every southern state will see.  We will benefit from a few Tech remote workers, but not likely enough to offset the tides of jobs that are driven by the oil industry.

@Connor Dunham - Cash is king my friend!!  I am in the max savings camp with @Chris S.

It sounds like you are a bit more optimistic than I am on the overall economic trends in AK.   While 6 years of flat-line may seem like it's ready for a rebound, that rebound has to be fueled by something.  The biggest metric that makes me think that real-estate is not going to boom is that we are experiencing a net outflow in migration, and real estate is a demographically driven market segment.  I do still think that there are good investments to be made, but I do not think that the 2020 bump will continue, and I think that home prices in general will regress back to the mean, which might be a slight decrease in prices.

@Greg Goforth

I think you're in a great position, especially if your employer goes to 100% work from home.  This will give you an immense amount of freedom to live where you want.  That being said, I think that your question is more about lifestyle management than real estate specifically (although the two are closely related).

Specific to the Alaska markets, most of us "need" to live close to where the jobs are.  For better or worse, that means Anchorage.  That limits most people with traditional careers to Anchorage and Mat-Su.  If you were traveling weekly (like I do) then I would include you in this category.  However if you only need to fly to Seattle once per month or once per quarter, the extra hop to Homer is a minor hassle and totally worth it.  Many of us would prefer to live farther out, but for practical purposes we cannot.  This is a MAJOR advantage to your situation if you choose to look at it that way.

I would recommend that you live where you want, and figure out the other details to support that lifestyle. It sounds like your W2 is beginning to align with that, and you should also tailor your real estate choices to do the same. House hacking a 4-plex in Anchorage will not generate the returns you need to go spend all of your time fishing in Homer... but living in Homer and doing a STR in your guest cabin would mean that you are already where you want to be as soon as you clock out.

House-hacking, AirBnB, tele-working... these things are all just tools to use to build the lifestyle you want.  They are all good for certain people and certain situations, but start with the end in mind and build your life to fit that.  Best of luck!!