Feeling defeated...Should I change my focus?

[Yvette Chung]

Hello everyone, 

I have been following BP and studying everything about RE for a couple months now. And I have been set on finding a 2-4 Unit somewhere in the Philadelphia to owner occupy since I am currently renting (figured it'd be great to pay myself rent rather than someone else, and to get some rental income to help cover mortgage).

My budget was no more than 200K max and I have looked at about 30 houses in the past few weeks. Not that I havent found anything in my budget, but I haven't been able to find a property in an area that I feel safe/comfortable living in.

I am starting to think maybe I should change my focus and try to find cheaper SFH where the mortgage payment would be around the same as my rent now (or slightly more). So I started looking at properties (such as HUD/Homepath) that need updating or cosmetic rehab and thought "I can get instant equity if I can make a place look nice and acquire a property at a discount". But my question is, if I have to take out a loan in order to renovate the property, am I better off just buying something that doesn't really need work since the bank would appraise based on after repair value? Being new to RE I am feeling pretty beat up and stuck now.

This would be my first property - any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks!