Featuring LocaL reaL estate
CABINETS
$25,000
19117 W Blue Goose Drive • Wasilla 2.09 acres, underground electric in the subdivision. Level lot, with lots of trees, maintained gravel streets.
$37,000 • 24-4486
Ask Cora
Hey Cora: Are Real Estate agents like Financial Planners? How are they different? Signed Inquisitive Dear Inquisitive: Sort of, I like to think of real estate agents as real estate advisors. Read below and I’ll let you know how our advice can help you with the financial, emotional and practical parts of real estate investing.
To the investor: I have a property ready to hit the market. It’s commercial with a rental unit. The commercial part of the listing is very nice and right in town – perfect office space for an attorney, small clinic. The basement is a full blown 2 bedroom apartment! There is even a garage, with a basement in that for storage (a garage with a basement, yup for real). This building is a great investment as it combines office space, residential space and storage space. All three can be rented out to different entities/individuals. This reduces risk for the investor because there are 3 different rent checks coming in. You can bet that I got on the phone and discussed this with many of my investor friends and clients. Watching the market and looking for those opportunities that they would not see at first is one of things I love about this job, you may not think there is creativity in real estate but there is. It’s not some “salesie” push to sell you something, it’s looking out for opportunities for clients, friends, family and even myself. Putting it all together is a win/win for everyone. And 5 years from now, you will be thanking me – your real estate advisor – for putting this together!
There’s more – this same property can easily be converted to an apartment in the office area as well. So it can become a duplex with the snap of a finger (and a few dollars). This way, it does not have to be financed as a commercial property – just a simple duplex. Big Win!
More for investors: Is this a good deal? I get this call a lot. And I love this because you have to ask
Level, heavily treed parcel of land. Airport runway, right-of-way running 5,500 ft. in length and extending a width of 500 ft. Lot on east side of Yentna River, 5 miles up from Big Su River. 19.89 acres.
$45,000 • MLS# 22-9124
Experience Matters!
yourself these questions: Is it financially viable? Is this emotional? Is this a dream come true? Is it practical? Can I sell this when I need my money out of it? All these are questions that you have to ask yourself as an investor. Personally, I believe you should throw out anything emotional. Because “emotion” usually doesn’t make good financial decisions. “Practical” makes good decisions and so does “financially viable” and “getting your money back out of it” when the time comes is the magic 8 ball question.
To the Extended Family: I have some very good friends, who like me, had a unique situation with their mom. My mom and dad lived with me for many years. My husband (bless him) built a special motherin law apartment on our house for them. It worked really well and we loved having them so close by. Because of my age (30-cough-choke-something-urother) I have lots of friends who are in this same boat, mom is in the house by herself, trying to maintain a home, mow the lawn and plow all the snow. Her kids, now in their 40s have kids of their own and are struggling to just have a large enough house and yard for the ever-growing offspring! I learned a long time ago, those kids may be small now, but they are only going to get bigger. Solution? Yup, there is one and a good one. Sell both homes, put all the proceeds into a new home for mom, her daughter and son in law and their 3 children. They get a larger home, son in law takes care of the lawn and snow plowing because he had to do it anyway for their own house, mom gets her own private place, she can
cook if she wants or eat with the whole family. Also, mom and her income can be used to qualify for the larger home, there are now 3 people qualifying for the home rather than 1 or 2. Because mom is over 65, the percentage of the house she is using get’s a property tax break too! Say it isn’t so – but it is! Win/ win. I loved having my mom right there as I didn’t have to drive across town to check on her, we played cards all the time, we shared dinner and sometimes she cooked and sometimes I did. It was a good system for us. But we did have our own separate spaces, that was key.
To the First Time Home Buyer: Yes, there are special programs out there for people that have never owned a home before OR haven’t owned a home in the last 5 years. There are also programs out there that will reduce your interest rate based on your income. Here’s another one, up to $30,000 to help with down payment, closing costs etc. At no monthly cost to you! Yup, it’s all true. This program forgives $2,000 per year for every year you live in the house. When you get ready to sell, if you live there for more than 10 years, the most you have to pay back is $10,000 when you sell the house. No payments, no interest that whole time. Too good to be true? It’s based on income and the home has to qualify as well, but I have done many of these – they are awesome. Oh, one more thing, you can combine the interest rate reduction program with the $30,000 grant program – together – like peanut butter and jelly on toast only financially better!
How are realtors different from financial planners? Not much really, we have your best interest at heart, we want you to be successful in your investments, we want to creatively set you up for retirement and we are here to advise you – straightforward advice. Need advice on real estate? Call me, I am here to help – remember experience matters.
Pack
Jumbo Freezer Filler
