Hi everyone,

I'm a buy & hold investor in northwest Philly, investing in rental properties close to home both as a source of income and as a method of being involved in the neighborhood. I came out of the tech industry and am burnt out on the 60 hour weeks and high stress. My goal with investing is to provide enough supplemental income that I can do freelance programming and be picky about my clients, rather than having to take on bad projects just to make ends meet.

My general strategy is to purchase gross looking places (e.g. a C house in a B neighborhood) and fix them up into something a family or young professional would want to live in. I've done a number of construction projects, but not much in NW Philly, so I'm on the hunt for reliable contractors. Right now my priority is on "cheap and good (slow is OK)" but ideally I'd like to have a few different folks I can call for when I need "fast and good (but expensive)" too. Electricians and plumbers have been my biggest headache so far (especially plumbers).

A family member got burned badly by real estate in the late 70s (by an ex husband who was terrible at it) so right now I'm mostly hearing "you're making a huge mistake." Looking forward to meeting everyone (especially local folks) who is making it work!