Similar quality to home centers but cheaper.

In my opinion both have their pluses and minuses and neither is 100% superior to the other and both belong in a well diversified portfolio.The main advantage of owning directly is that you can put in sweat equity and thus get a higher return (along with having direct control).The main advantage of passive is that once you have done your due diligence, you don't have to do any more work.

Cash flow isn’t much of an overall profit center and I know that the forgiven rent meant a lot to my tenants and not much to me.

I'm still currently buying but I do think there is a lot of uncertainty in the market centered around the election. 

Great deals won't last long and waiting even a day can be long enough to lose the deal.3.

Younger couples looking to come to the city for the wide variety of nightlife and restaurants would likely want to stay closer to Center City.

Business friendly states can make a large difference in cutting through the red tape.Also if your concept is retail inline in a strip center versus a stand alone can affect timelines and availability of premium expansion option locations.

I feel like that’s a decent place to get started, not the greatest area but most tenants I feel will be long term.

I'm seeing plenty of parcels that belong to owners that have 3+ tax liens on them which would instantly qualify them for foreclosure process. 

With cap rates compressing over the last decade across the board, I would expect hold times to be longer.