Regarding property management, utilizing local property managers can save you time, and using PropStream effectively for filtering properties by distress level and location will certainly help with finding stronger deals.

Luxury vinyl plank (LVP) is a cost-effective choice for flooring, offering durability and a high-end look.

Philadelphia has implemented various forms legislation over the years between abatements, land banks and density bonuses geared towards promoting development in areas that suffered from disinvestment and housing affordability challenges with some legislation having been more effective than others. 

It binds the landlord, but honestly has little binding effect on a tenant when they simply choose to leave.

I've dabbled in hard money for a few years on both sides of the transaction and here are the 3 types of people in the business.

Based on research it appears Zelle is the only option that does not have a transaction fee for landlords.I did not include maintenance as a category since this can be done easily in a spreadsheet, but all of the options actually had pretty good maintenance and expense tracking.For Tax Support, all of the tools met the minimum for being able to export the financial information. 

Investigate "transactional funding" and "joint ventures".    

The cost of that trip would effectively be included in my purchase price.

2) What are the seasonal effects on real estate?

@Sushil IyerWith my experience, to analyze properties effectively, you can start with resources like MLS listings, Crexi/Loopnet, tax assessor websites, or paid tools like Costar and Reonomy.