IS BUYING A HOME IN ALASKA LESS EXPENSIVE THAN RENTING?

Is buying a home in Alaska less expensive than renting?  Buying Alaska Real Estate can often be approximately 50% cheaper than renting when the added advantages of appreciation and income tax savings are factored in.  If you wish to find out what's best for you, feel free to contact us on our website at Alaska Home Sellers.  You can also look at Mat-Su homes for sale here to see what your money will buy in the Wasilla Real Estate market.

A couple of months ago we blogged about the concept of the Boomerang Buyers that are coming into the Alaska Real Estate market, and how I feel they are going to further drive inventories lower and therefore resulting in higher prices in the months to come.  And when combined with our blog on Interest Rates and what is happening with the Anchorage Housing Shortage you can begin to gain some insight as to how these pieces of the Alaska Real Estate puzzle all start to fit together.   

According to Trulia's Winter 2014 "Rent vs Buy Report", it is 38% less expensive to buy than rent in 100 of the nation's largest metro areas.  Here is a link to the full story Trulia's Rent vs Buy Report Winter 2014.
  
There is even a very cool calculator on there that allows you to input your specific area and to use the sliding scales to find out more for your unique situation.  The link to the calculator can be found here Rent vs Buy Calculator.   As the article points out, the financial advantage to buying vs renting will lessen with an increase in home prices when also combined with higher interest rates.  We are already seeing an increase in both home prices and interest rates for home buyers in Alaska.  There is never a "one size fits all" answer to questions like this and it is only after counselling sessions with a competent real estate professional and an accountant that the answer will become more clear for your particular situation.  As Residential Finance Consultants, we employ even more empowering calculators to design a customized analysis tailored specifically for you.  

If you are a current homeowner and are contemplating a move you can visit our website and fill out this Short Form to obtain a quick estimate on your Alaska Home's Value.  We can prepare an analysis for you illustrating what the financial aspects of making a move now look like compared to waiting.

We can also be reached at (907)352-1828 to privately discuss your Alaska Real Estate goals.

Greg Shepard
Associate Broker GRI, SFR, RFC
Jack White Real Estate Mat-Su

What's Better on St. Patrick's Day Than Corned Beef and Cabbage?

What's Better on St. Patrick's Day Than Corned Beef and Cabbage?  Corned Moose and Cabbage!

With today being St. Patrick's Day, we thought we would share the recipe that we use to make corned venison, moose, bear, etc.  It is truly one of the highlights of St. Patrick's Day every year for our family.

Here is the recipe for making corned venison. If you don't have venison, any "lean" cut of beef will also work. BTW Moose and bear is fantastic!!  If you like Reuben Sandwiches...it makes the best you'll have ever had.  We have friends that don't eat wild game, but can't stay out of this when we make it.

If your cut is thicker than 1 inch, use an injector to get the brine into it, or simply cut it down so that it will completely penetrate the cut. When I do mine, I have done upwards of 12 pounds with this much brine. But rather than placing it a bowl, I place it in a 2 gallon Ziploc freezer bag, and then squeeze the air out of it to completely submerge the meat. Every couple of days, open the bag, move the pieces around and then squeeze the air out of it again and put it back in the refrigerator.

Corned Venison

2 to 3-pound brisket, flank, or shoulder roast up to 1 inch thick
2 quarts spring water or distilled water
1/2 cup canning/pickling salt
1/2 cup tenderizing salt (e.g. Morton's Tenderquick®)
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons mixed pickling spice
2 bay leaves
10 whole black peppercorns
1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced

Place cuts in a large glass or pottery mixing bowl (I use the 2 gallon Ziploc bags). In a stainless kettle, glass or enamel saucepan, combine remaining ingredients. Heat just to boiling. Remove from heat, cover and allow to cool. Pour cooled brine over meat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; or if using Ziploc bags, squeeze to remove air, then seal. Refrigerate 7 to 10 days, (the last batch I did was almost 14 days) turning meat occasionally. Drain. Rinse meat thoroughly with cold water. If you are not going to eat it all at once, take a normal portion size that you would cook and place that in a quart size or gallon size Ziploc. Add some of the brine, squeeze the air out and then place it in the freezer. That way you have more ready to go for next time. The brine makes enough meat for several meals, but believe me you will go through it faster than you think. The recipe that we first found called for preparing it the following way. To prepare corned meat, place in Dutch oven. Cover with cold water. Heat to boiling, then drain. Cover with cold water again. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat; cover and simmer until tender, 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours. We have found that just putting it in a Crockpot with beef broth for about 8 hours is the best! And the easiest..... Enjoy!

Will The Housing Shortage in Anchorage Affect the Mat-Su Valley Real Estate Market?

Will The Housing Shortage in Anchorage Affect the Mat-Su Valley Real Estate Market?

The question can be answered in just 3 words.  It absolutely will!

In case you missed the Sunday (3-9-2014) edition of the Anchorage Daily News, there was a very telling article on what is occurring with their real estate market.  Here is a link to their story Anchorage Housing Shortage.

With 25% fewer homes for sale, and with 3 times the population in the Municipality of Anchorage than we have in the Mat-Su Valley, it appears that the Anchorage real estate market is headed for a year with substantial increases in value.

What does that mean to us here in the Mat-Su and the Wasilla Real Estate Market?  It reaffirms the thought that we will definitely see an increase in the number of buyers coming out to the valley this year because they are finding they can get more for their money out here, placing even greater pressure on an already low inventory of homes for sale.

As a seller, it can result in shorter days on market, increased prices, or both in many cases!  As a buyer, you may have already noticed that some of the homes you've been monitoring are suddenly turning up missing from your searches or in your saved favorites.  That means they have most likely received an offer and have been taken off the MLS.  And with the predicted rise in interest rates this year, it's truly like having a candle burning at both ends.
  
We're sharing this to help educate you to the realities of the current Alaska Real Estate market.  Much of the information that you receive regarding the housing market comes from a national perspective, but it is completely different here.

If you are thinking of buying you can shop on our website here.  If you are thinking of selling and want to receive an estimate on what your home may be worth in today's market, fill out this short form.
  
If you have any questions on these developments and how they could affect your decisions in 2014, feel free to call my office at (907)352-1828 or visit our website at www.AlaskaHomeSellers.com.


Greg Shepard
Associate Broker, REALTOR, GRI, SFR, RFC
Jack White Real Estate Mat-Su

5 TIPS FOR COLD WEATHER SAFETY

With a few more months of winter remaining, here are 5 tips for cold weather safety.  As a volunteer instructor for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's Hunter Information and Training (HIT) program, these are some of the concepts that we present to our students.  You can learn more about the different courses at the following link Alaska Fish and Game Hunter Information and Training. 

One of the benefits to volunteering as an instructor for Alaska's HIT program, is receiving training concepts and materials that our national organization will occasionally send out that we can utilize during our course training sessions.  This is a very good article about cold weather preparation while hunting, but as I was reading it, felt that it would be a good resource for anyone that spends time outdoors.  Here is a link to the story 5 Tips for Cold Water Hunter Safety.  While we are rapidly approaching spring, it is often during times like this that we are least prepared...running out the door without a jacket because it's a beautiful day, going for a hike without bringing a pack with a few essentials in the event that the weather changes, etc. etc.  Often during the middle of winter we are prepared for an emergency.  Extra gear in the back of the car/truck, coffee can with candles and various food items, shovels, etc. etc.  But what I refer to as the "fringe seasons", spring and fall, are the ones that most people run into trouble because they don't anticipate anything going wrong.

While our blog is primarily about Alaska Real Estate, it is Alaska after all, and it seemed like these were tips that everyone could stand to be reminded of.  Maybe the proper cleaning of your firearm and firearm safety doesn't necessarily apply to everyone, the rest of it certainly does.

And if it is too nasty to do anything outside, feel free to take a look at the homes that are for sale in Alaska on our website at Alaska Home Sellers.

Stay safe out there!
      

THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN BUYING A HOME

The Winter Edition of "Things to Consider When Buying a Home" is available now.  With all the daylight that we are gaining now on a daily basis, all of us are probably experiencing a bit of 'Cabin Fever' and are anxiously awaiting the rapidly approaching Alaskan Summer!

For many, spring also means that the new home that they have been dreaming of starts to become an all consuming part of their daily lives.  Looking online every night to see if the 'one' has came on the market today, to even sneaking a quick peak during breaks at work.  If you are one of these, we have a booklet that we think that you will find invaluable.

Things to consider when buying a home

It is filled with information that answers so many of the questions that today's buyers have.  It covers all of these topics, plus so many more of the most asked questions of today's buyers:  

BUYERS: THE WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY IS STILL OPEN

WHERE ARE PRICES HEADED OVER THE NEXT 5 YEARS?

HOMEOWNERSHIP'S IMPACT ON NET WORTH

We at Alaska Home Sellers feel that this is the type of information that buyers in today's world are yearning for.  While there are countless websites to find homes for sale, simply having access to the millions of homes that are for sale across the country doesn't answer the BIG questions that most buyers have.   And that's where we come in...we bring you through the process with an unbiased approach to educate you on what the best moves are for you based on your individual goals.

There is still plenty of time to grab a cup of coffee and spend a few minutes educating yourself regarding the 2014 real estate season.  All the early signs point to a very busy year!

If you would like us to mail you a copy, simply give us a call at (907)352-1828 or send us an email to Greg@AKHomeSellers.com and request "2014 Winter Buyer Guide".  

 

 

5 THINGS THAT YOU PROBABLY DON'T KNOW ABOUT VA LOANS

There are 5 things that you probably don't know about VA loans according to a blog post that I recently came across.  But I am going to add in a 6th because of it's importance...and with 10% of Alaskans being retired military, there are a lot of VA loans that are used to buy Mat-Su Valley real estate.  

This is a link to the blog post that I came across that very well summed up a couple of the myths regarding VA loans that many consumers have. 5 Things that you probably don't know about VA loans.  And while those 5 are quite valid, I think that there is a 6th thing that could apply here in Alaska as well with the high amount of disabled veterans.  And #6 could be one of the most important of all.  Did you know that if you have a service-connected disability of 10% or higher that you are exempt from paying the VA funding fee?

If you are an active member of the military or are a retired member of the military and are contemplating buying real estate in the Mat-Su Valley of Alaska, we work with competent lenders that can review your present financial position to analyze what loan program would work best for you.  

VA Flow Chart from Hawaii VA Loans

You can always visit our website to obtain an enormous amount of information on Alaska real estate.  You can shop for current homes for sale here or if you are curious as to what the value of your home is in today's rapidly heating market , you can fill out this short form to obtain an approximate idea from us.

We at Alaska Home Sellers feel that there is something BIG about to happen this year here in Alaska real estate!  We featured a post about it yesterday WILL 2014 PROVE TO BE THE YEAR OF GROWTH?.  

Stay tuned for further updates as this begins to unfold...

Greg



 

WILL 2014 PROVE TO BE THE YEAR OF GROWTH?

Will 2014 prove to be the year of growth?  We at Alaska Home Sellers absolutely believe it will be.  2013 proved to be the year of stabilization as investors purchased an enormous amount of the "low hanging fruit", including the thousands of foreclosures that were available.  They were compelled to enter the market and invest after they watched from the sidelines during much of 2012 to see if the bottom had indeed drawn near and the market would start to recover.  And when they jumped 'feet first' into the market over the last 12-18 months they substantially, and knowingly, reduced the remaining inventory (homes for sale) levels causing a rapid increase in values.  With real estate being a market like anything else, it is predicated on a "supply vs demand" principal.  The more demand there is for something, the price naturally increases on the remaining supply.  
 
In an ideal world, you would always like to buy at the bottom of a market and sell at the top...but all too often, when the consumer 'senses' the market has hit the bottom, it has already made it through the lowest point and has already started back up.  Conversely, when a seller 'senses' that the market is at it's peak and tries to time their sale, the market has often already started a downward trend.

The investors over the last 12-18 months have hedged their bets with a bit of 'insider trading' of sorts.  Knowing that the price of the housing would increase with a decreased supply, they purchased untold amounts of it with that knowledge.  In a way...they were hedging that bet by purchasing placing large volumes of real estate (in many cases entire blocks filled with empty housing) into their portfolios and renting them out knowing that their asset would gain almost instant equity by virtue of the supply vs demand dynamic.  They know that reducing the inventory increases the price. 

It's in large part why areas like Nevada have experienced phenomenal year over year appreciation as illustrated in map below compiled by FHFA's third quarter report in 2013.

The bi-product of their investing has had a pleasant side affect that existing homeowners have been able to take advantage of.  Rather than being subjected to a long protracted recovery, the investor involvement has accelerated the recovery exponentially.  As you look at the map above, you will see those areas that were hit the hardest during the housing bubble bursting, are recovering at a much higher rate than those areas that were least hit.  Investors aren't interested in single digit returns on their money...they are interested in the big returns! 

And with the values rapidly recovering, the number of mortgage delinquencies is on a sharp decline as well.  Homeowners over the last few years that were 'upside down' in their homes and couldn't afford to sell because they would have to bring a check to the closing table, are suddenly learning that the market has often recovered to a point where they can now sell and actually walk away with a check in many cases.  And voilà, delinquencies are dropping like a rock.  The following map is from the National Association of REALTORS from December 2013.

We at Alaska Home Sellers feel that there is an ENORMOUS amount of pent up energy with existing homeowners that would love to be able to move...maybe to a larger home due to an increase in family size, or that have job opportunities in another area but couldn't accept them due to their negative equity positions in their existing homes.  Not only do we feel that 2014 will be the year of growth, we are starting to see signs of it being larger than even the experts are predicting.  All of this teamed up with our post about the Boomerang Buyers a couple of weeks ago is further evidence that 2014 will prove to be the year of growth.  

 

Of course all real estate is local...and Alaska real estate is no different.  The Matsu real estate market is off and running for the year so if you have been sitting on the sidelines trying to decide what to do, this might be your year to make the move that you have been dreaming of.  

There is no substitute for competent counsel and advice when it comes to making decisions regarding large financial matters.  If you are curious how the local market is impacting you and would like to get our professional advice along with a customized analysis based on your individual real estate goals, you can call our office at (907)352-1828 to set up an appointment to discuss them.