Is Philadelphia a good long term investment market

[Michelle Borg]

Hi all, we’re looking to buy our first investment property. We live in Southern California but have a lot of family in the north east. We would like to start building our portfolio with a long term rental, preferably a duplex, using a property manager. Is Philadelphia a good location for long term rentals? Thanks for all info and help. 

[Sheryl Sitman]

@Michelle Borg I moved to the Philly suburbs in 2016 in order to develop my investment portfolio and have since spread out to multiple states. I am sure that the numbers in Philly look great on the proformas you may be running. What you are missing is an understanding of what lies behind those interesting numbers. Done right, Philadelphia can be  a solid investment. But many remote investors (in general) are naive and do not take the time to learn the market and set up the systems and teams they need to invest wisely and manage their investments well. I run the FB group Philadelphia Landlords Connect -2000+ small investors who have a variety of experiences that they share and help each other to find good contractors, navigate city laws...  There are many parts of Philly that have undergone incredible transitions. There are more neighborhoods than you can imagine. Philly is block by block and it is VERY tenant friendly -- so you need to truly know what you are doing. But knowing what you are doing should be a part of investing anywhere -otherwise it is gambling and not investing.  Since you are on the other side of the country, you may not have considered that PA is filled with many micro markets as well within driving distance of Philly. Lots to do out here. Feel free to reach out and good luck in your journey!