Best area to invest in Philly area with ~$50,000

[Joe Ranieri]

I want to purchase a rental property in the Philly area and have about $50,000 in liquid funds and would ideally like a property that at the very least breaks even from all expenses. Is there an ideal area in Philly where I should be looking?

I will also be able to save around $3000 a month starting in January due to new job role so another question would be if it makes sense to try and save as much as possible for a year and then have around $85,000 to invest this time next year. Any and all recommendations would be highly appreciated.

[Neal A.]

Joe,

This is going to largely depend on a couple of factors.

1) what percent interest are you getting on a loan for the rest of the money?

2) are you intending to property manage yourself or pay someone to do it.

Both of these are going to heavily factor into whether or not you can break even after factoring in expenses, and estimated repairs and vacant rates.

If you held off and approached the situation with 85k that could put you in the realm of buying a SFH outright.