If you ever wanted to go to a more passive income stream, whether it be leveraging your own saved cash or by borrowing against the equity in the inherited SFH, you should STRONGLY consider being a Private Lender instead.

Therefore, IMO, LLs might want to have a more positive attitude towards their customers. 

Have you seen Philly making progress to bring in a more diverse job market or planning to do so in the next 5 years?

So I have the option, to ‘build new’ and get a more conventional loan on the new+land.

Like any system, it gets convoluted/complicated and if you don’t understand the “inner workings” (the above is a more like a summary), people come up with their own explanations of what they see/experience.

It's a more beneficial proposition from the politician's standpoint to appeal to the 4 tenants (4 votes) than to one "greedy" Landlord who the politician knows will continue to pay their property taxes, etc regardless of whether the tenants pay rent or not.   

Keeping the process as smooth, simple and streamlined as possible is important, as it can be overwhelming enough for sellers as it is.Another reason I've heard agents use for not liking them, and this may be a more legitimate reason, is that agents don't think accepting them is in the best interest of the seller.

However, I was looking at the option of getting an FHA loan to be able to get a more expensive place, hopefully, a duplex or triplex, closer to home.

Which would a more seasoned invester go with?

It's a quick read that seemingly gives a good picture of where the industry is at the moment for those interested in a more detailed view: Argus call summary