PA is a great alternative to those because you can drive there and there are some great well-priced, lower tax alternatives to NY and NJ.

There are several factors that lead to this, the primary driver is picking tenants who pay their bills.

Maybe you get someone paying cash or using conventional financing. 

He stayed an extra 2 months after that, promising to pay.

Now, you need to figure out how to find deals and pay for them.

If your borrower is not paying you, it’s likely they are not paying other bills.

So, the question becomes when things get hairy is can you FORCE them to pay.

Take them out to lunch or coffee (forsure pay!)

Turning a garage into a game room will probably pay for itself relatively quick. 

Once you know your price range and what you want to put down if using financing you can typically have a bank approval same day.Once approved if not paying all cash you talk with your agent or even self-explore and use the listing agent in most cases.