I am wondering what criteria led you to that list and maybe I can provide some insights about how Philly would suit you.   

@Manda Gouvion About two months for me, I read about house hacking from a book, and then that led me to BP, and then I consumed every article, podcast and forum post I could to get me comfortable in investing in my market, and I was ready!

Borrowing up to the hilt is what led to the Global Financial Crisis less than 10 years ago, and is still the cause for some countries being in imminent danger of Bankruptcy!

I would have your realtor run some comps and you might find the house is a better deal than the appraiser led you to believe.  

We have seen our highly themed homes (we are talking bat caves with LED lighting, Aladdin rooms with "floating" magic carpet beds, etc.) book for literally twice the nightly rate of a home that simply has cute themed wallpaper and pillows.

I actually had a tenant get one of my mailers (complete accident when i was starting out) who gave me the park owners contact which led to a deal.I also let them all know we would compensate them with a referral ( and since we have a good relationship with our  vendors , i would think they know this would result in more business to them.  

Big tech companies like Intel, Meta, Amazon, and Google have moved in, and that's led to an increase in property prices and more people moving into the city for job opportunities. 

I like to do my own DD which led me to your post.

Overall it was a huge learning experience that led us to take on a lot bigger project for our second flip.

It is a rewarding online forum and led many of us to successful investment opportunities, joint-ventures with other like-minded investors, opportunities to lend and borrow, purchase, sell and even rent properties.To put it lightly, we have all been blessed to have BiggerPockets available to boost our careers.