$50,000 Single Family Rental in a Small PA City vs. Multifamily

[Michael Lyons]

I imagine many beginner investors on here are looking to buy their first single family home in the $40K-$65K range.  The idea being to start small and learn and grow from there.  I have experience buying and selling one single family rental, after holding it for 5 years. I also have been fortunate enough to save some money during this time and I can now afford to buy a single family home in this price range with an all cash offer.  

My brother and I plan to hold it long term and likely do a cash out refinance in order to repeat the process.  The location we are looking in is a small city in Western PA with slow growth potential.  This location is on the upward trajectory, albeit slowly. There are some good things happening but the city is not experiencing any dynamic growth.  As an example, a 3BR/1Bath house in very average condition can be purchased for $43,000.

I am torn between buying 1-2 single family rentals in this price range, doing some cosmetic rehabbing (hopefully) or buying 1 larger 2-4 unit property and rehabbing and renting that.   Single family homes in this area are renting for $650-$950 monthly, depending on size, and duplexes are renting for around $450/$450 or $650/450 if one side is larger.  

Does anyone have any thoughts on which type of property we should be pursuing? I would also be interested to hear people's thoughts on buying houses in this price range to hold long term.  I live in a larger city on the East Coast and single family homes are selling for many times more than this location so buying something local with cash is not an option.

Thank you in advance for your comments. If anyone has any experience investing in Western PA please feel free to reach out.