Low End Landlords/Real Estate Investors: Philly vs Suburbs (section 8, rentals)

[selhars]

If you wanted to get into real estate, with say a duplex....but you have to stay at the very low end of a purchase price or investment...
-- would you do it in Philly -- or a neighboring county (1st choice DelCo, 2nd choice MontCo)
There is a twin house right in my neighborhood that's in my price range. But it's in Philly.

-- or would you not do it at all...IF let's say you could only afford a cash purchase of about 125K
(I don't want to have to cough up a mortgage payment if I have no tenant)

-- I could go higher but want to hold back a substantial emergency fund. I'm not a risk taker by nature. But monthly rental income sure sounds tempting.

-- I know property investors in Philly and they tell me it's more tenant friendly than neighboring counties. And of course being a landlord, I'd rather have ordinances in MY favor, not the tenant's

OR...for only 125K would you just buy one house, instead of a duplex.
Would you even deal with real estate or put you cash into the market? (which -- being a different kind of "investment" won't bring in the monthly nugget that rents would be.

Thanks.....

I've gone back an forth for years about getting into rentals. And now I'm back to thinking about it again.

[Philly246]

Start reading some entry level investing books -Rich Dad /Poor Dad, Intelligent Investor, Invest in Real Estate.. and start listening to Bigger Pockets podcast.

It sounds like you really need to understand some fundamentals first.

[selhars]

I understand the fundamentals. I've been very close to others who have had, and have, rental houses and apts. I know very well what some landlords go through. The plus of the income. And the negative of having a bad tenant.

I just have always debated whether I wanted to be a landlord myself -- especially in Philly, which is a tenant friendly city. And especially at what I'd consider the low end of the rental market. I know there are ways to mitigate that -- like section 8.

But again, I'm just not sure I want to be a landlord so I thought I'd ask for opinions about landlord experiences at dare I say "the low end of the spectrum."

[1ondoner]

With real estate it is all about location, location and you guessed it right, location. As far as letting laws are concerned, regardless of location, they always favor the tenants and therefore you want to get good tenants.

Good tenants in turn want to live in a good house, so if you want the least amount of headache, then you will want to buy a good property. You also want to buy in a good neighborhood where most neighbors are home owners.

With the impending downturn, now might be a good time to scout for properties. It's a lot more work than you think but once you get a good property you'll be glad. Make sure you run your numbers to maximize your returns.

[selhars]

Lord, knows my cash isn't making me any money!