Every investor has a different approach, but I personally buy my rentals the same way I buy my flips..at a deep discount using hard/private money, then refinance with a rate-and-term loan to secure a lowest interest rate.Ultimately, it comes down to your goals, risk tolerance, and ability to find value-add opportunities.

I'm in a number of social groups for private lenders and have run into a lot of scams.

The comparable is house in Uptown Harrisburg on N 4th St. a few doors down that just sold for $97k on 1/31/25.

I did a 1031 exchange for two C class townhomes I sold to one of my investor clients from the West coast.

Thanks @Brian Ortins our agent has been great to work with, she definitely takes the extra steps needed to get them sold. 

To summarize, what I have seen is a possibly poorly conceived investment possibly sold to people who are not sophisticated.  

That home was in Milpitas CA.. probably worth about 1 mil today.. but I lived there 2 years sold it made over 50k and I was off to the races.. primary home equity as I look back 50 years of ownership and multiple homes has made me well over 2.5 million in tax free gains. 

We reached out to a private investigator and have had no luck.

Purchase price: $400,000 Cash invested: $20,000 Sale price: $620,000 Bought near a private university with the plan to live in it before renting it out.

I wouldn't touch Franklinton with a 10' pole on the existing inventory side. gravity 2 is being auctioned and sold by the developer the area didn't support office developer lost millions:https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2024/12/19/gravity...linden I agree on if you can get a good deal. super fast appreciation. small homes, close to downtown, you can look at year over year and it's going up fast but also fast to change. any urban adjacent neighborhood is going to be good.