All Forum Posts by: Zachary Decker

The Seller has accepted our counter-offer, home inspection Friday!

@Scott Sewell, "hottest segment" of the market, gotcha. Yeah duplexes are highly sought after in Anchorage right now, because of that I didn't think I was too interested in owning one until this one came on the market. And I note your point of not over leveraging. There was a BP podcast a month or two back highlighting this mistake. I have to admit the past couple of months I haven't been paying as much attention to what's been going on in the world (been busy reading real estate books), but I recognize your point about Saudi and keeping prices low. If that's how things play out I welcome the opportunity to buy at lower prices!

@Connor Dunham, yesterday my girlfriend and I sat down and went over our budget together. We realized we can pay off this duplex in 10 years! She asked me why people our age aren't buying real estate, I read her your response to my posting and was happy to be able to point to someone who is. I hadn't considered a 5-1ARM...it's too late this go, but I see the advantage if you were to refinance. Our projected PMI was hard to swallow, but we also plan to refinance to eliminate that cost.

I appreciate you both sharing your knowledge with me, thank you for your words of advice!

-Zak

Scott thank you for the response!

The duplex is not strictly an investment. It's intended to be a home for my girlfriend and I while getting our first taste of landlording. In many ways it's a good find because it suits our needs well rather than what it offers as an investment. I don't think it's a hot investment, but we're not going to go underwater with it either. Long term our strategy is to live in it for a year, find another rental property, house hack, fully rent out the first, repeat. 

I welcome your info about the usefulness of the 2% and 50% rules in Anchorage, thanks! You mention you believe this is the/a hottest segment of the market right now. Can you elaborate? Clearly everything is expensive and prices have been climbing. Do you expect current oil prices and the states dependence on oil revenues to have a negative effect on our local economy? (What other factors are you looking at?) Less jobs, people leaving AK, less demand? I work on a drilling rig in Milne Point, my employer just signed a contract with Hilcorp to drill 9 wells. Although they have a lot more work for us they have been clear that the current price of oil does not support new wells and unless if prices change or we learn to drill wells in half the time we will be going back to working over old wells. That said I'm torn. There is a lot of work to be had. More drilling=more support jobs & revenue for Alaska economy. And I can't imagine how oil prices can be held down for much longer unless if artificially so. Whether we can agree on the validity of Peak Oil or not I think it's fair to say people believe the worlds oil supply is running low. If people believe it, as far as the market is concerned, it's true, right? 

I hope to see you at REX one night. I've been to one meeting in the past, but the last several months I've been up North and missed them.

-Zak

Hello Anchorage area investors,

I'm making an offer today on a duplex. It's in good shape, cute, in a nice neighborhood and in my price range. After watching the market for the last six months it seems like a good find. It doesn't however meet the 2% rule and barely makes the 60% rule. I understand these are rules of thumb rather than commandments one must follow, but I'm curious whether this is typical in Anchorage or perhaps the duplex isn't as good of a find as it appears on the surface. 

Thanks,

Zak

Brian, Scott and Princeton,

Thank you for the info! I will certainly pass it on to them. James, I'm not sure who they're using now or who they may have used previously. I'll have to ask. And Brian I'll certainly keep you updated.

Zak

Hello Anchorage area Investors,

My in-laws have a 15 unit rental property here in town and it's more than they want to deal with when it comes to managing their property. They're having a hell of a time finding a property manager that they're content with. I'm curious if anyone knows of a PM that they know to be worth their keep that they would refer me to?

Thank you!

Zak