(My contractor often just answers these calls and makes the necessary repairs without me ever knowing).

Not that that means anything good or bad :-) But if you want high quality genuine coaching about investing in Philly and at a reasonable rate, I can  connect you with a wonderfully savvy, professional investor who does coaching.

However, since the repairs took a few days and the appraisal took even longer, the loan came out of underwriting.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

That means if you could get $6,250/mo, have zero repairs, zero maintenance, zero capex, zero vacancy, provide zero lawn/snow/landscaping, pay zero utilities, and pay zero management.

She bought a condo with lower-than-average dues, but a few months in, the HOA announced a special assessment for roof repairs.

Joe Asamoah who focuses on quality homes and solid tenants.

Signs of this are poor lease quality, maybe M2M tenants, high expenses (unnecessary things like high trash bills, internet, cleaning, security).

Sellers generously accepted because they know some things need repair.

I understand a fixer-upper would require a lot more work in accurately determining repair costs, finding good contractors, etc., but I think the learning experience would help set me up better for future deals.