Alaska's largest landlord: Weidner Investment Services Inc.

• Author: McCorkle, Vern
• Position: Company Profile - Statistical Data Included

A winning combination of unique management Style and entrepreneurialism has helped make Weidner Investment Services Alaska's largest owner of multi-family (20+ units each) rental properties.

Weidner is celebrating its 25th year in business, but its first apartment development in Anchorage was in 1981. The company now operates 2,297 apartment units contained within 24 properties, located in the Anchorage Bowl area.

To operate and maintain the Anchorage holdings, Weidner retains a staff of approximately 70 local employees, over half of whom are detailed to provide ongoing maintenance. The balance of the roster is comprised of on-site managers and executive management.

WEIDNER IN ALASKA

Dean Weidner learned about real estate at mother's knee, so to speak. When 14 years of age, his mother sparked Dean's interest in real estate by training him to maintain, and then eventually to manage, duplex and four-plex apartments the family owned in Colorado Springs, Cob. He continued managing properties while attending college and until about age 22. Then, in 1973, Weidner became assistant vice president for sales and marketing at Alaska Airlines, a job that brought him to Alaska almost weekly. With similar climates in Colorado and Alaska, Weidner took a natural liking to the state and soon began to think about establishing his own real estate investments in the Great Land.

Weidner launched his ventures in Washington state in 1977. Then in 1979, he purchased an Anchorage warehouse operation, and two years later added two apartment homes comprising 290 units, also in Anchorage.

Now, 25 years later, Weidner credits his business philosophy for much of the success he has achieved. The first thing he did was to run his business like a business. By that he meant invest for the long term. When he began his career, a popular real estate acquisition strategy was to first buy a "fixer-upper" and do some hurry-up paint-up and fix-up to get it rented. Once rented, then sell it and buy two similar properties, and repeat the process, never keeping anything longer than it took to unload it and move on to the next opportunity. Many people made quick money operating under this theory. Not Weidner. He has taken a longer, more permanent approach to his real estate program. His enlightened technique is working.

"The difference between property management and property ownership," Weidner asserts, "is that when you own a building you can afford to make long term financial...