If you want something more affordable but still solid areas I would consider - Upper NE Philly, Roxborough/manayunk, and West and part of East mount airy. 

It goes deeper than that.NYC Liberal policies, including strong tenant protections, increases the risk of failure so much that the risk far outweighs the rewards.Financial ruin is just around the corner for the small Mom and Pop Property Investor that it doesn't make sense for them.The Tenants will have free Attorneys that are bent on delaying eviction cases so long that it stretches into years while Mom and Pop suffer from lack of rental income and still have to pay all the bills and do the management.Additionally, the increase in homeless living rough in the streets due to Sanctuary laws causing a lack of shelter beds, then evicting shelter residents after 30 days creating more homelessness, policies that tie up the Police's ability to arrest perpetrators, etc. only causes Mom and Pop to sell out at large discounts to larger Landlords who are capable to use Economies of Scale to eek out a profit.These larger Landlords will eventually turn a much higher profit as the pendulum will eventually swing towards the middle when the NYC Voting population eventually realizes that it's not a conspiracy of the Rich that's causing the Wealth Gap to increase.It's the same liberal laws that encourage people to become lifelong tenants, small Entrepreneurs (including Property Owners and small Mom and Pop Businesses) to be destroyed, and Rents to rise astronomically as housing becomes scarer even when the population declines by as much as 7% in the last several years. 

>East Bay rents dipped slightly but are expected to rise 3%-4% as vacancy decreases.

That said, Kensington (north of Lehigh) is another world that I dont touch even though I have a property just south of lehigh in east Kensington (still some zombies) but has stayed rented with great tenants and no vacancy for 5 years.  

Buildium is a nice middle ground and can bring a lot of organization if you don't have a robust bookkeeping system.

It's smack dab in the middle of the city and getting to anywhere in the central Nashville area is a short trip.

The mortgage broker or lender is generally going to use your middle mortgage credit FICO score which most people don't have access to unless they have already have had your credit run by a mortgage professional.

So, keeping an eye on it and addressing minor fixes (like securing loose shingles) can be a practical middle ground.

I'm actually keeping an eye on some spots east of the gigafactory; there's a lot of buzz about potential there.Would love to swap insights and maybe grab a coffee (even if virtual) to chat more about how we can navigate and capitalize on these changes.

But its in East Cleveland  So if it was west cleveland it would have been quite a bit higher priced.