Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment.

Purchase price: $145,000

Cash invested: $15,000

Sale price: $180,000

2017, I tackled my first fix-and-flip—a 2004 double-wide m...

I keep wanting these to work, I really love the idea of this asset class...

Skip the class and go straight to learning on the job.

But it can really help offset costs and pretty good return on investment at that value. 200k in philly puts you in Class C real estate at best, and you likely have to update it somehow. 

Identifying these trends and targeting high-demand areas can yield solid returns.Long-Term Stability: Real estate has historically been a stable, appreciating asset class.

Letters, post cards even calls are useless to this owner class. 

@Derek Heinz you might be better off finding a major fixer-upper, getting a hard money loan (HML) to acquire it. 

@Ethan Slater here's some info we hope you find useful: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?

If you are very conservative purchase a fixer upper so you can force equity and hopefully have a low enough payment so that you can LTR the property or even sell for profit should the STR avenue not work. 

You can find a duplex in a C-class neighborhood for about $210k+.