All Forum Posts by: Cynthia Oistad

Thanks everyone!  The seller noted the 4 bedroom has rented for about $1850 in the past, however when I look at zillow and craigslist for similar 4 bedroom apartments in this same price range, the other rentals seem more updated? Should we do a few updates just to be sure I can still rent it for the same rate competitively and try to attract the best quality tenants? 

Is there a rule of thumb for knowing how much to update just to stay competitive with the same market over time even if rent is maxed out at a certain range due to market demand/supply?  Our single family townhome has never rented over $1800.  a few years ago, we put in about $10K in upgrades and tried to rent it for $1900.  After 20 stressful days on market with very few calls, we lowered it back to 1800 and were flooded with 6 interested tenants in 2 days and got it rented.  

thanks Brad!  I will check that rehabapppliancesak place out.  I am pretty sure they post on CL also because I have seen their names.  We have had good luck with scratch and dent at DIY stores too.  We find we can usually negotiate an extra $75 or $100 off the clearance price just by asking...

thanks Mike!!  flooring is vinyl in bathrooms. good point on the blinds!  where does one find good used SS appliances? craigslist?  

My agent and I spent some time touring an interesting 4-plex property today.  It was well maintained by owner, had large units and was in relatively good shape.  If we decide to move forward with offer/purchase, I would like to make a few updates to the vacant 4-bedroom unit (pics below) to maximize rent and attract highest quality tenant possible.  However, the project can't afford a high cost rehab and the high purchase price.  Would love to hear ideas on where you recommend we spend a little ($8K-$10K) on updates.  There are some unique features like a bidet toilet?  Keep or remove? Update the sinks?  The living room downstairs has no windows with vinyl floor and a large carpet mat in middle. Normally I would always paint the interior, but the paint was in great shape (might have been recently painted?) so thinking of spending money elsewhere.  Initial ideas were to white wash the wood paneling for a farmhouse look, replace hardware for kitchen/bath vanities, new laminate countertops, maybe a backsplash in kitchen?, update bath light vanity.  Carpet is actually in pretty good condition/stain and tear free.  Keep?  replace with Laminate? what color would work best with cabinets?  Thanks!!!! 

we are using stessa too and like the way that we can enter in transactions via the app.

there are some bugs in the filters I have noticed, but for the most part it works pretty well.  We are looking for a web-based software to oversee our 6 units.  

@Jamie Rose, that would be great! Message me your contact info and I’ll send you what we are looking for! Would like to get set up for automatic emails that meet our criteria. 

Thanks to everyone for your responses!! 

Hi Ken! Welcome to BP! My husband and I are interested in SFR and small MFR near North Pole and Fairbanks in anticipation of the F-35 beddown and housing demand. Let me know if you want to chat sometime. Having a local investment partner in Fairbanks would be a good fit.

@Caroline Apostolos, are you still looking for partners on this deal?  I'd be interested in seeing your analysis!  I live in Eagle River, but interested in investing in Fairbanks or North Pole before the F-35s arrive.  Single Family or small multi-family. 

Adrian,

My husband and I might be interested.  Are you still looking at this deal?  I work for Arcadis in Anchorage and am part of the planning team that authored the FNSB Growth Management Plan

@Account Closed - thanks for your response. We have never done a HELOC or home equity loan so we are still trying to learn and figure out pros/cons of each. I think we are in a position to risk some of what we have earned to try and build wealth.

We have avoided debt our whole lives, which can be a good thing in minimizing financial risk.  But we are seeing the downside of debt avoidance as we are learning more on real estate investing.  We were motivated to pay off our rental property mortgage that we refinanced from a 30 year loan to a 10-year loan as a way to pay it off sooner and minimize our total interest that we would have to pay. The larger monthly payments resulted in negative monthly cash flow the past 9 years.  :(  At the time, we thought that was a smart move to basically defer our gains/short term income in the interest of having a paid off property in 10 years.  Now the house is paid off we are finally seeing good cash flow, but we also are realizing now, that instead of having had our tenants pay the additional interest on a longer loan period, we used OUR money and savings to pay down the interest.  Trying to avoid a similar situation on our next Real Estate investments and interested in learning more about leveraging debt and using OPM to build wealth/portfolio.  That said, our principles around debt-avoidance are not going away, but we would make sure before we take on more debt that we have enough savings in a reserve to cover the rental property expenses (on all investments) for at least a year if we had to for some reason.  This is one reason we are looking to increase our rental properties and diversify which markets/states they are in so if one goes vacant or rental market drops, we have other rentals bringing in rental income to help us until we can turn it around or hold it until market recovers.