Help in Evaluating Philadelphia Real Estate

[Alex Schukin]

Hi BP Community!

I'm a new investor based in NY, looking for my first property. I've done some extensive top-down research on attractive cities for single-family or small multi-family (duplex, triplex) buy & hold rentals and Philadelphia has come out on top.

I'm looking to understand what would be a reasonable gross cap-rate to expect when investing in Philadelphia given a budget of $150K - $200K. Using online data bases such as (Zillow, Trulia and Redfin) come across as unreliable or inconsistent in terms of evaluating comps. Any areas I should be focusing on in particular?

Additionally, what are some good sources to find reliable input assumptions (rental rates, tax rates, vacancy rates, growth rates for rents and house prices) for modeling a deal?

Am I missing something in how I am thinking about my approach? If someone has a few minutes for a phone call, I would love to find some time to chat about your experience in the Philly market.

Thanks,

Alex