You can get a fourplex for about $500-$650,000 in a high quality part of the metro here with as little as $125,000 or so in equity/cash.

I would focus less on quantity and more on quality.

Here is a standard clause from the Columbus Realtors you can use to protect yourself:111 Investment Property Purchase ClauseThis Offer is contingent upon Buyer’s satisfactory review of all leases, rental agreements, deposits, past _______ years’ income and expense reports and within ___________calendar days after acceptance of this offer.

Investors should consider factors like market data, rental rates, infrastructure, crime rates, and school quality when assessing potential investments.

I know most PMs already have go-to contractors for most things but I also know from experience that good contractors tend to get busy or scale to a point where quality suffers.For the professional property managers of the world, how often do you get solicited by new vendors and what can a new one do to convince you to give them a chance?

Personally there are some really strong suburb areas that I would much rather invest into than Phila - lots of it is due to better landlord policy, higher demand for rentals, less competition for rentals, less headache than dealing with Phila, higher quality tenants and less risky.

I also understand the importance of protecting your business standards.

Make sure the home has quality furniture and items that don’t fall apart in a few years.

A local resource particularly for CRE (commercial real estate) can make the difference in the transaction equating to a quality investment. - Expertise in local laws and rules: Investing in real estate is hyper localized not only for value and potential but in rules and regulations.

I agree with this high level (Private Money = Individual, Hard Money = Company Non-Turnkey Product).I've been begging (mostly to no avail) for better clarity and definitions here for these to avoid confusion - BiggerPockets IMO has a HUGE opportunity to set and create the "gold standard" universal definitions of loan types with just a little initiative.