All Forum Posts by: Connor Dunham

@Dawn Anastasi I didn't even think about that....Good Idea! (Jumping over to look at your profile now)

@Jeremy T. I agree 100% I've found talking about my goals around smart people generally helps make them better or more realistic as well as the keeping you accountable part.

Momentum = (Mass)(Velocity)

The mass of tasks I get done in any year is directly affected by how much velocity I have coming off of last year. I am hoping to add to this mass as we start this new year. Here's what I accomplished last year:

• bought my first investment property / primary residence (duplex)
• made progress on paying off my student loans
• developed my outline for funding my next real estate purchase
• replaced the boiler in my new property
• learned how to plumb
• worked full-time while completing 12 credits towards my masters degree in traffic engineering
• Turned Real Estate investing into a reality and my own business

Some stuff I found I was lacking was at:

• Pay off more student loan debt
• My Land-lording skills
• My Energy levels

My goals for this next year (relating to building wealth) are:

• Finish my master's degree
• Take my Professional Engineer License exam
• Get my Real Estate License
• Get my thesis published (arguable as relevant but decided to put it here)
• Refinance last years purchase to take advantage of sales-price growth and eliminate PMI
• Add more insulation and air sealing to duplex to finish energy efficiency grant program
• Consolidate Student Loans
• Reduce food expenses by $100 per month
• Redo my standard lease agreement
• Transition some hobbies to be more energy building and thus lengthen my productive day.
• Do one Real Estate investment deal with $30,000 to $60,000 that has an ROI around 10%

Hoping to keep this momentum going for the entire year. Having quantifiable goals and tracking my goals as I go is important (at least that's what I've read). So, there's another goal to add to the (somewhat) ambitious list. 

Any other folks out there 25-35 with similar goals? Any criticism or feedback is also welcomed.

-Motivating quote for this year-

"you can't climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets" - Arnold Schwartzenegger

Great Work Scott! I recently used zillow data sets for my municipality to project rental market rates, number of rentals, etc... for a project with my data mining class (1 class away from my masters). Their publicly available data is okay, but nothing like what our local MLS has. The most interesting piece of data I gathered from them is how cyclical listing price reductions are for my market.

For my day job I do traffic growth projections and demand modeling - kinda similar. At least I know where the traffic will be in 20 years. It would be interesting to compare where Tableau says the development is going to be with what I see at work and whats programmed in our model.

Welcome. I'm up to Podcast No. 85. So close to catching up all the way. What's your favorite strategy you've learned about so far?

Yes, @Curt Davis. I am living in the (not so hypothetical) property. Just wanted peoples' two-sense on the subject.

Hey BPers,

I had a discussion at the local investor get together and wanted to fact check and learn. If I improve a duplex (replace a 35 year old boiler with a high efficiency one, add garage door openers and raise the rents), and I want to refinance a year after buying (to eliminate PMI payment and lower int. rate 0.5%) would the appraisers take into account the property was improved or just use the comps (these have risen 6-7% in the last year)? I plan on giving them the invoices to help their decision if it will make a difference. What are you thoughts?

Going from the list price and adding $7500 for closing costs (just in case - this is an FSBO) you come in at 1.2% monthly income / purchase price. They talk about the 2% rule on BP all the time, but I don't see it on AK MLS properties that I would actually live in. When you are in the 1-2% range, people have said they find it hard to cashflow or have the property pay for CapEx. People in larger cities often have a hard time finding 1% deals, but at 1.2% in FBX, its worth a closer look.

Looking closer: definitely not going to have one side cover all expenses here, but it really comes down to living for (using your numbers) $1150 per month, learning to manage the property (assuming you aren't going to hire a property manager), and making sure the property cashflows $100 minimum per door after you leave (looks like it does). Make sure to have multiple exit strategies.

Also, you might want to get some quotes from local property managers to verify your stand-in number for management. I've heard 12% from some people down here. At the same time you can get their estimate of what the unit should rent for and their vacancy rate (as a check against your numbers). 

Long answer short, it's worth pursuing if you think you would like living in the property. I wouldn't compromise my living standards at that price / cashflow. I would call the utility companies and triple check those utility numbers. If they won't give you the history, you can show that you have an accepted offer and they are supposed to show the history. Good Luck!

Hi Matt,

How are the utilities set up? It seems to be light. Is the property on oil or electric? separate meters? shared boiler/furnace? As a comparison, I budget $475 in a duplex I owner occupy in Anchorage (water and gas are shared).

Insurance: You are probably $75-$100 higher than you'll get when you owner occupy.

Maintenance: snow removal should be included under this item.

Appliances and other unknown rehab: I had a fridge go out within a month or two, consider buying a home warranty with the purchase. In retrospect I wish I had - there's a lot of advantages about them when you read up on it.

Buyer paid closing costs: Are you splitting? is the seller paying these? 

PMI: VA loans do not require this, but anytime there is less than 20% LTV, it should be considered in the analysis somehow...

Reserve funds: I don't qualify for VA, but for AHFC they require 6 months PITI. Do you have this much? It can be risky when your reserves are too low right after a purchase.

3 month vacancy: Have you considered doing a vacation rental (AirBNB) to cover the gap?

Just wanted to follow up with this post and say the boiler has been successfully replaced. Parts - $5,650 (should have gone with Supply House in  retrospect)

Labor - $3,000 (I would totally pay this again in my market).

Learned how to install a boiler - maybe not worth much, but I have a mechanical mind and like to know how stuff works in case anything goes wrong.

Welcome to the site. setup "anchorage" or other keyword alerts for a specific area you're interested in.