Have you also considered working with investors to find and purchase properties specifically suited for Airbnb - locations or types of properties with a proven track record based on data available?

Of course I would never rely solely on their information and I would analyze every deal I'm interested in myself as well but how am I supposed to recognize a deal to pursue without knowing the comps, market rents, etc?

The book doesn't discourage home ownership, rather getting people to recognize that and to make sure your assets bring in more than your liabilities so you are truly financially free.

At some point the city rightfully recognized that your area was more appropriate for commercial than residential development and changed the zoning. 

The nomenclature that I used may not be exact, but my goal is to be able to recognize a great deal vs. an average deal.

This is proven by the fact that there was a stupid amount of syndication/EB-5 money coming into Philadelphia for several years that allowed these new mixed-use apartments to pop up everywhere.

@Huw McDonaldConsidering that you are buying this for investment and looking at the numbers that you have provided, the answer is simple: it is not a good deal.You’ll be significantly out of pocket every month for the privilege to be a landlord and you’ll subsidizing the lifestyle of your renter and exposing yourself to significant costs down the line if your tenant is a troublesome or trashed your property.For the same numbers to make same, you’d would have to make a much larger down payment.Assuming that you are paying full market value, (which the numbers tend to suggest), it makes no sense to go in that dealIt could make sense to go into a deal like that if the property is selling at a discount and you’d have some equity built-in right after purchase.Maybe there is a significant upcoming development close to the location that you are buying that would make your property more desirable.If you have those facts and know that particular market well, then ok.But recognize that what would be do is essentially speculative “investing” than value investing

It could be a good deal but that's a big red flag until proven otherwise. 

I was very thin on money but was able to recognize the opportunity thanks to BP and other real estate knowledge I had obtained.

Nothing wrong with poking in and out of free sites and forums and asking questions, but at some point, it's best to follow a proven path...otherwise you just don't know what you don't know or what should be asked when and in what best order and so on.