Wilmington, DE, the Cash Flow seems great, am I missing something

[Jerry Peng]

I've been saving up some money since leaving college and now have enough capital to deploy in buying a SFH/Duplex property. I'm interested in Wilmington after analyzing rent to cost ratios. I've realized that most top 100 US metros are being oversaturated with investors and DE in general seems to have really low property tax and good rental rates.

I'm looking for some help in hearing people's opinions on the following 3 things:

1. How landlord friendly is Wilmington? By this I mean what is the cost range and ease of an typical eviction, how easy is it to get a permit for renovations/rehab, what is the number of weeks before you need to return a security, etc.

2. What are the types of costs that are unique to Wilmington? For example, I've heard with the downtown older homes, there's good amount of CapEx that needs to be sunk in a lot of the time with maintenance and repairs.

3. What are people's opinions on the growth prospects in Wilmington and what neighborhoods are considered A,B,C or D class? I've read in previous blog posts 3 years ago about a new Chief of Police coming in and BPG building up the downtown. How did that turn out?

Much thanks to anyone who can give me any information on any of the three above questions.

Just some background info, I'm not a speculative buyer and will likely be looking to find a home with minor cosmetic upgrades needed before it's make ready. Forced appreciation and steady cash flow is the name of my game.