All Forum Posts by: Cam Jimmy

@Account Closed Right!? especially in markets where housing prices are too high, like mine :)

@Account Closed I have been thinking of an idea to create a tiny home park...similar to a trailer park, but my vision is much nicer. Try to keep cool/neat/unique things in the park that millennial's would like, for example, maintained playground for kids, muscle beach style outdoor workout area for adults, a neat trail system inside the park itself for dog walkers, a community BBQ area, etc... You would also need to have rules/covenants so it doesn't end up looking like a trailer park too, like no junk cars outside the homes, mandatory roll cart trash and recycle service, keep lawn under 4" long (mow no less than twice a week), stuff like that. I'm telling you, I am on to something here, I have no idea how or where to begin!

I've tried to eat before going to a restaurant to save money... but what ends up happening is I buy food at the restaurant because it smells so damn good, and end up bloated as hell on the couch afterwords, because I ate 2 meals lol. I now try to just completely stay away from restaurants in general now :)

@Pamela S. Hey Pam, I have another strategy you could possibly try. If you have a 401k through your or your husbands work, you may be able to borrow money from that, for part of your down payment. The 401k (whichever company its through, Fidelity, Vanguard, etc.) will usually allow you to borrow up to %50 of your portfolio with a maximum of $50,000. Then you would choose how quickly you wanted to pay it back, I believe the max term is 5 years. Also you would be paying interest on it, but that interest goes right back into your 401k account! So you are paying interest to yourself! I have personally never used this strategy yet, but I'm ready to pull the trigger if I need to. Anyways good luck Pam!

Good idea, Lets keep this thread going for anyone in the Anchorage Alaska area to post any GC's or individual tradesmen that have worked out well for you. Also lets notify others on this post about crappy contractors, so we can avoid them! :)

@Cameron Riley I am all self educated, using books, podcasts, and this bigger pockets website. I've never had a coach, and none of my personal friends understand what i'm doing. However, I finally found a friend that is really motivated to start investing in RE, and I'm kind of coaching him now lol. It will only make me a better investor to help a friend out :)

I have not found a general contractor yet. But I've found a few specialty contractors that worked good for me. 

Siding work - ABC seamless (expensive, but totally legit, and do excellent work)

Flooring - Tony's Flooring ( he does carpet, laminate, and vinyl installs)

Attic insulation and weatherization in general - Alasco

roofing - Earhart roofing

Paving - 1-800-asphalt

I want to just say that this was an entertaining post :) I don't know much about plumbing but I appreciate the pictures @Jorge P. Thanks for sharing. We have some water issues like this in crawl spaces where I live, so it's nice to see a way to deal with the water.

@Ashish Acharya Oh wow, I thought there was a cap on carryover. This is good to know! Thanks!

@Ashish Acharya Sorry, maybe I'm not using the correct terms, since I'm not a tax person. But since my wife and I are being phased out with our rental property losses, I can only claim a certain amount of loss per year. Then after we hit that threshold, I am under the impression that some of the loss I can't claim this year gets rolled over to the next year (up to a certain amount). I believe that we will have so much "loss" this year that we will be phased out and unable to claim it this year, and still have so much loss that we won't even be able to roll all of it over to the next year... That's what I meant when I said "carry-over is maxed out". 

I hope this makes sense :), I may not even be correct about any of this.