The less desirable an area is initially the more work and less reward there is going to be to maintain it usually, leading to the slide going quicker than it did initially.Think about it like this, in a less desirable C area you only need some criminal activity to take hold and within a year or two it will easily be solidly into the D territory.

You can (and should) make them pay full security deposit, any pet fees (but probably no pet rent, unless you are under the Sec 8 rent) and do full credit and background checks (there will be debt, maybe collections, but you can screen some criminal, depending on where you are, and evictions -- again, depending on where you are).Let's say you are charging $800. 3 times is $2400/month.

And my Dads attorney back in the 60s said any press is good press except heinous criminal acts..  

You are the victim of criminal damage (or whatever it is called on your state).

However, with hearing of a local landlord couple go missing after visiting a tenant to post an eviction notice, and after all of these other recent criminal, and some drug related violence in neighborhoods I sometimes have to go to, I have become increasingly scared.  

For some reason, it is where all the felons and sex criminals live. 

Vet the contractor (license, bonded, insured, no criminal history) , do NOT pay them ANYTHING upfront.

Criminals commit crimes. 

He had a criminal history in 1997, ready to give some extra security deposit. 

I have had tenants that have no criminal backgrounds but their work ethic sucked which affected the rent being paid on time.. but that’s just how I see things.