I'd like to buy into a B neighborhood, and to cashflow in this market that requires a 50, 60, 70% down payment if not 100% cash.

What criteria makes a neighborhood an A vs. a B vs. a C and so on?

But there are A, B,C, and D neighbors and a couple of war-zones.

He showed me the properties and they are in a B- neighborhood.

This is a B- area of town.I will remove the water utility from the projections, I do plan to self manage for at least the first couple years but want it to still make sense if I used a property manager in the future.

I have seen properties sold for $75k-$150k in so called A+, A, B+, and B neighborhoods turn out to be horrible investments with the wrong team/people selling you the property and or managing the property.

Sometimes up to a week if there is high humidity, low temperature, or poor air flow.And as mentioned earlier, the end product may not align with expectations in a higher-end property, but will be great for at least a B property.

It would be a lot easier to rent out a  B/C apartment than an A house. 

You need to define annual expected yield for your investment and how much headache you want ( active versus passive ).For example you can buy a very nice quad in an A,B area but not much cash flow there.

Purchasing in the path of progress is much more effective than purchasing in A/B+ neighborhoods with good schools.