Every other house or business is boarded up.

There are a number of great new construction builds around Philadelphia, and I'd like to reach out to the builders.

Which will bring plenty of other investors and general business to the area.

I personally don't like STR's because they are more of a business than an investment(in my opinion).You didn't mention the amount of hours that you and your spouse work but I would have to assume it be between 1900 to 2200 hours assuming you work 48 weeks and between 40 to 50 hours a week.If you buy a STR and self-manage it, you are added 200-300 hours per year in additional work making your life more stressful and less time to do things that you enjoy.Best of luck. 

Looking for some creative advice that hopefully minimizes the tax bite.My business partner and I own two houses free and clear in our LLC.

It's a program that helps/teaches you how to access business credit to fund your business endeavors.

The mortgage business is notoriously difficult, investor and lender guidelines (bank rules) are complex and vary among investors, generally speaking, brokers are not lending their own capital and the liaison on concierge gate keeper. 

I don't think I should have to run business ducking lender payments and using sneaky language.

He gave me a $50K business line of credit and his staff has always been easy to work with when I simply call them.

We Google the business and verify that the number they gave us is accurate and if it isn't we call the listed number.