Allentown, PA multifamily market?

[Nathan Christensen]

Hi everyone,

I wanted to ask the forums if anyone has any thoughts about house-hacking in the Allentown area? To clarify I do NOT mean Allentown as in the area of Pittsburgh, I mean Allentown the city nearish Philly. I was looking at Minneapolis but it was far from family, a higher price point, strict landlord laws and much higher taxes. 

My longtime girlfriend and I are looking to buy a small multifamily in the area for somewhere around 200k or lower. I am currently a loan officer and she is a leasing agent and our salaries combined come out to be right around 100k/year. I grew up on a farm and have done some construction myself and I am hoping to find a place that's a bit run down where I can come in and change the flooring, cabinets, paint, landscape, ect. and get myself some sweat equity. It seems like there are plenty or multi families in my price range on redfin, realtor.com, zillow ect. 

I would like to know more about the neighborhoods and if my goals seem reasonable to those of you investing in the small Multifamily market in Allentown. I've heard center city is a bit rough, east and south side are more working class, West side is the nicest and I've also heard good things about Bethlehem and Lehigh Valley but that's all I've gathered so far. 

My girlfriend and I are looking to move to the area sometime in mid to late 2020. I'd love to know what neighborhoods you guys think would best suit my goals and where I should start my journey on educating myself about this particular market. If anyone has any helpful tips or advice I'd greatly appreciate it!

Thanks in advance,

Nate Christensen