reading,pa property help

[Marc Oister]

hi everyone. Im new to bp and have already found a wealth of information on here. I have been interested in the reading,pa market for some time now and would like some insight on my current dilemma. I am from pottstown and spend a lot of time in the city of reading so i know the city well.  Everything i have read says to stay away from some of the less desireable areas of the city but i was figuring it cant be as big a nightmare as everyone states.  I have run into a property on the south side of reading off of cotton st.  I have friends that live two blocks away so i know the reputation but the property is a 5br 1bath for 17k which has been newly rehabbed and the owner needs to free up some money.  It would be a cash deal and this would be my first property. I figured with the price and condition of the house along with the instant equity it would put me in a start to real estate investing. Any insight would be greatly appreciated before i pull the trigger on the deal.