BP has a wealth of knowledge and makes meeting people driven investors really easy. 

I had so many questions as a newbie that I would have driven James nuts.  

Hello all,     I've been doing a lot of research on this forum and have driven to a lot of the Philadelphia areas; the 'hot' neighborhoods that are usually talked about on here are Point Breeze, Passyunk square, Pennsport, Port Richmond, Fishtown, Brewerytown, Kensington, penn's landing, and northern liberties.   

That being said, if you can't fit 5 units or more on this site I wouldn't pursue it.  4 units would be considered residential and subject to residential appraisal standards and weight sales comparables very heavily.  5 unit or more would use an income capitalization approach and the value would be driven by Net Operating Income.So here's your homework.1.) 

Do real estate agents do cold calling and do you use any automated system for it?

The value of the portfolio is going to be driven by rents.

Many OOS investors set themselves up for failure because they don't truly take the time to understand:1) The Class of the NEIGHBORHOOD they are buying in - which is relative to the overall area.2) The Class of the PROPERTY they are buying - which is relative to the overall area.3) The Class of the TENANT POOL the Neighborhood & Property will attract - which is relative to the overall area.4) The Class of the CONTRACTORS that will work on their Property, given the Neighborhood location - which is relative to the overall area.5) The Class of the PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMPANIES (PMC) that will manage their Property, given the Neighborhood location and the Tenants it will attract - which is relative to the overall area.6) That a Class X NEIGHBORHOOD will have mostly Class X PROPERTIES, which will only attract Class X TENANTS, CONTRACTORS AND PMCs and deliver Class X RESULTS.7) That OOS property Class rankings are often different than the Class ranking of the local market they live.8) Class A is relatively easy to manage, can even be DIY remote managed from another state.

No real aha moment just a confidence boost to my young self with a “I am capable of accomplishing whatever I want to accomplish” attitude 😁.

It get's to the point now where I'm so dead set on this happening, that I'm driven towards doing what I need to do.

Sec 163(j)(7)(A) is pretty clear that rental income does not qualify as income from a trade or business, so for purposes of the 20% deduction my guess is it’s not likely to qualify either.