Hi,, The house at the end of my street is abandoned, in chapter 13, condemned and the owners were hoarders.  

Now applying this to Philadelphia, you can easily go into areas of North Philadelphia or areas of SW Philadelphia just as examples and find properties that pencil as BRRRR's as easily as it is to pick produce out at a grocery store.

Take a look at BP's blog where new articles are published every day: https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog4.

After repairing and improving the usability of the home, I was able to get it rented out at the top of market.

Try interviewing at least three managers.1.

There are lenders that will finance newbies, even at 100% of the purchase & rehab, but if the numbers do not make sense, the chances of that deal getting to the table are thin (especially if the lender wants to help borrowers succeed, not help them fail).The lender's underwriter looks at every deal, but especially the lesser experienced operator's deal to determine what is exposed vs what is the return.

Doing a 203k on a multi can be challenging, depending on tenants so your best bet is to get one vacant, but then you are at a full loss while construction is going on.

It will be difficult finding a second position lender on a primary purchase (IF THEY EXIST AT ALL).

I'm looking at a condo in Mesa and would love to talk to someone who is currently renting in that market.

Can you do both at the same time...yes.