All Forum Posts by: Christopher McIntosh

Hey there, I'm looking to purchase my first home, and after finding quite a few that I'm interested in, my lender shot them down because the listing pages said the homes were only qualified for cash and conventional loans, not fha. Although I'm qualified for conventional as well as fha, the lender said that most real estate agents are confused in thinking that only fha homes must pass safety and health standards, while conventional loan approved homes do not, so that when they say it isn't approved for an fha, it also likely isn't approved for a conventional loan.

One house I was looking at in particular did have some issues, but it's well below my budget, 90k when I'm approved for 200k. An agent I spoke with about this house said they noticed some setttling issues, signs of water damage in the basement, paint chipping, and a back deck that might be possibly rotted. So with all those in mind, and also looking further to other properties that might have issues, I'm curious if there is a way to get any clear information about the place without a home inspection. My lender also said that if I wanted to get a loan for a place like that, I would need a 203k loan and probably have to shop around for someone else because he wouldn't be interested. I'm mostly worried about getting a place that ends up costing double the amount the home inspector estimates, so I am trying to find a way to have the owner repair the damages now, so it could be approved for an fha and just increase the cost of the home. Should I just forget about anything that doesn't qualify for an fha or should I go through the process of paying a home inspector to check properties out for me?

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Thanks for the advice, Natalia. I am leaning more towards a purchase in Alaska but the only thing that makes me a little uneasy is how the housing market in Anchorage will be affected if oil prices remain this low. 

And Roger, your assumptions about Alaska are correct for about 95% of the state, but Anchorage is quite the opposite. Knoxville has a vacancy rate of about 7% and Anchorage is at 5.10%, so it's slightly better. I'm just mostly worried about the worst case scenario while toting a larger mortgage like not being able to find tenants after I quit my current job while something in Knoxville would still be manageable if the same situation. 

Hello there. I'm in an odd situation where I'm currently working and living in two separate states, and I'm looking to invest in my first house, owner occupied for the first year then renting it out, and I'm having trouble figuring out which way would be the best route. I'm looking for something that will be able to allow me to quit my current job and mostly survive on the rental income. The two separate areas I'm looking at are Knoxville, TN (where I'm from) where I can find a house or duplex for around 100k, and probably bring in a monthly rental income of around 800, and the other is Anchorage, AK where I work, and there it's much more expensive, say 300k for a duplex but it would bring in around 2500. Knoxville seems the safer bet since it's less in case something were to go wrong like maitenance issues or not finding a tenant, I could still afford the mortgage while Anchorage would bring in more cash flow but would be incredibly difficult to foot the full mortgage if I didn't have tenants. I'm currently making about 65k a year and I'll have about 30k for a down payment towards the place. Of course these are all ballpark numbers and specifics could vary greatly but I was just curious what you guys would recommend. Thank you! 

I'm mostly interested in places where the tenants take care of the utilities. For the vacancy, I've thought about opening a separate savings and keeping about 10k just incase theres a period of no tenants. 

I'm also considering finding a single family household that I could easily convert into a duplex. I might consider looking outside of anchorage but I'd really like a plan I where I don't have to worry about finding tenants. 

I guess I meant pmi, not pi. Sorry about that!!I also forgot about the property management. Do you know what the average rate for that is in anchorage? From what I've read it seems it's about %10 of the monthly rent. 

But other than that, everything seems to line up correctly? 

To better explain my situation, I'm planning to move to another country where I have a few job offers, but the pay is sporadic so I'd like to establish something constant here before I leave. 

I'm interested in buying my first property this year in Anchorage, Alaska. I'm mostly considering a duplex, and for the next year or so, I would be occupying one of the units and renting out the other. My goal is to put enough money down on a place that I can bring in about 600-700 a month cash flow, if I eventually move out and rent out both units.  That sounds too good to be true, but with the places I've been looking at and the amount of rent I could receive off of both units, it seems possible. Most duplex in the areas I've been searching for have averaged in the 220-280k price range, and with those properties, I could pull at least 1,100 rent out of each units (most likely looking at a 2 unit property.) My only tool for figuring out the mortgage has been multiply calculators for this found online, but all of my estimates are about 1500 (at an interest rate of 5%) for with a 40k down payment for a 250k property. Tax is $250, insurance $67, pi $70. That amount still leaves a least 600 left after rental income. I'm also going to add about $150 a month into a savings in case of any repairs needed. But  I'm thinking there's gotta be something I'm missing from the equation.  Any help would be greatly appreciated!