All Forum Posts by: Anna Ferntheil

It depends on what you want to do. No, you do not need a degree to be a real estate investor. Yes, some careers require a degree and rightfully so. No, I did not learn a thing about how to be an employee while I earned my degree. They really could add some more classes to help with the business and social aspects of being an employee. What I did learn as an engineer is specific ways of how to approach problems and look at the world around me to design structures that are safe for people. So no, I don't think my engineering degree is useless. It even ties into real estate to some degree as I have through understanding of materials and construction techniques. 

If I was going to jump in and start as a real estate investor right of the bat, no I would not go back and get this degree. However, having gotten it, it has afforded me skills useful to many parts of my life, and has enabled me to get experience that helps me to evaluate properties in a unique way. It has also enabled me to get a good paying job that allows me to invest in real estate. 

 I just closed on my first home with Mid South. I have visited a handful of turnkey companies across the US and they have the best system I have seen-and overall are easy to talk to and communicate well. 

I called about a year ago and got on their list. About a month from moving "to the top of the list" they sent me an email with what was going to happen once I got to the top of the list and started seeing properties. They also let me know I should get my pre-approval letter at that time. 

The closing process was the most painless I have been through. It was almost too easy and communication was great from them the whole way. They even have their own insurance company they partner with that offers extremely competitive rates. I did some of my own research with a few options before going with them. 

Hope that helps a little 

If you are planning do use your retirement money for property investing using loans, I suggest you look into the eQRP or solo 401k plan (same thing, different name). I had a SD IRA and found it limiting in what I was trying to do and there are a ton of fees AND taxes when selling a rental property that is financed. the eQRP was easy to set up, I have great support 24/7 and have checkbook control of my funds. There is a set up fee and an annual fee of a few hundred dollars-way less than with my SD IRA. The biggest drawback tho the eQRP is that I am free to waste my money or make purchases that get me into trouble if I please... There is no institution watching me to make sure I am in line-I have to take the initiative to reach out for the advice. PM me for more information if you are interested.

@Jamie Rose thanks for the input on a recent deal!

I have never directly dealt with an HOA so I can't necessarily speak to that. I am assuming the $600+ is per year?

I am curious what places you are finding well under $200k. Are they condos? Or are they in the north east part of town? Or is it near some areas of Spenard Road? Parts of both of those areas have really been cleaned up in recent years but there are still plenty of really bad pockets. If the HOA fees are in that area, it could be for security and vandalism mitigation...

I live in Anchorage-I am not sure if there are any turnkey providers up here.   We do have some realtors that specialize in investments and separate property management companies. I have never heard of a true turnkey provider in this area though. Things to keep in mind about harsh climates like Alaska is that they are hard on everything-cars, property, the people sometimes.... 

I can tell you that the C+ and B class SFH properties start at around 200-250k in this town for a fourplex you'd be extremely lucky to find one at 350k. The lower prices tend to be in areas with more crime, poor reputations, and harder tenants. There is money to be made if that is what you are into. I live here and I don't want to tackle that market (though I have friends who have been very successful doing it) I would think that it would be incredibly difficult to do from out of state.

I live in a B/B- neighborhood where SFHs cost about 250 to 300k and the tri/fourplexes are 400-600k. Some duplexes in the area go for 500k. I have had stuff stolen out of my truck twice in the last year. Unfortunately, crime is high, even in the reasonably decent areas of town. Luckily, the crime is more petty in these areas-but it is still there. There is a rampant problem with people smashing car windows at trail heads, even in nice parts of town, and stealing worthless crap out of people's cars. These trailheads are pretty out of the way for the casual lurker up to no good. 

There are some Anchorage "suburbs" that you can do pretty well in. Eagle River is probably the safest these days. A lot of military people live in Eagle River since it is a pretty easy drive to where our base is. Crime in "the valley" (Wasilla and Palmer) is similar to Anchorage.

Not to turn you away from Anchorage-it is a great place. Being 15 minutes away from gorgeous rugged mountains, almost any outdoor activity you can dream of, some of the most beautiful highways in the country is pretty hard to pass up. However, for investing, I personally turned to some out of state providers in the midwest. 

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/311/topics/617418-inspectors-in-cleveland

I ended up using Anthony Perry. He was easy to work with being out of state and sent a very detailed 30 page photo report along with the inspection. 

I bought my first investment properties in Cleveland as well. I am still pretty new but have been pleased so far with how things are going! Congrats

I found myself in a similar situation-essentially wondering if it was worth it to cash out my retirement funds and take the penalty and invest it now. In some cases, the numbers make sense and the ultimate gain can exceeded the penalty. I ended up going the SDIRA route with my funds which I found had some problems (detailed below) and ultimately moving again to an eQRP/solo 401k account. Have you considered that option if you are planning on changing custodians soon anyway?

I had a SD IRA and it was very frustrating trying to do everything through the custodian. The massive amount of forms required for any activity was very frustrating. In a short amount of time, some things that they had said I could do like "purchase property titled in my name" they were saying, well yeah but not that property you want.... I am sure they had their reasons but it was frustrating and it was never explained to me what the issue was in a way that made any sense other than they didn't want to deal with it. Also, I wanted to diversify and put some of my money into crypto-they had their own platform that charged pretty outrageous monthly fees just to use it.

I ended up switching to an eQRP/SD IRA and have been very happy with it. I have almost 24 hour access to an adviser who responds almost immediately to my questions. I have since been able to purchase the afore mentioned land with no problems and set up a cryptocurrency trading account with no fees other than the standard trade fees. This also allows me to avoid some of the issues and taxes associated with financing a property to be owned through a SDIRA.

Feel free to message me with any questions or if you want more information I can send contact info

I am in Anchorage as well. I ended up investing out of state because the cost of entry is lower and I already own my home in Anchorage. I didn't want to sell my home, buy a multi family, live there for a year, trade up, etc. I almost went that route but decided that personally, for me, I have enough going on without adding moving every year that I could achieve the same end results in maybe a little longer time with a different approach. With the budget up in the air, I have a lot of uncertainty about the short term growth in Anchorage. I think long term, prices in Anchorage will be relatively stable for the reasons you mentioned at worst but appreciation is a question mark. 

I personally chose to invest out of state because I didn't want to be too hand on with things. The turn-key methods fits well with my goals and lifestyle and there are markets out there currently experiencing growth with a pretty strong trend.