Keith, I will probably go against the advice of most here and give you a different perspective.In my opinion, little of the advice you are receiving is taking into account the most important factor: your risk tolerance.

The eviction went through without any hangups, Judge was up to speed and had zero tolerance.

I think Kensington has reasonable prices/rent to value ratios and has parts that are up and coming, but a local realtor would know far better than I would.One of the reasons I like the areas surrounding University City is due to the demographics of philadelphia itself; and my plan for investing given my risk tolerance and preferred balance of cash flow vs. appreciation potential.

I would appreciate any help on this and I hope my novice ignorance can be tolerated. 

Once you purchase you are going to be committed and the transaction costs will loose you money if your investment doesn't work out.Everyone has different risk tolerance, but I would personally not own any rental property as my first buy and hold that I did not live near (< 1 hour drive).

My risk tolerance is higher than most (currently ultra high and wanting to move it to 'high')

One of the benefits of real estate investing are the many options and routes one can take, which makes the answers to your question very difficult.The answers will also depend a lot on your personal financial situation, risk tolerance, etc.

The first 100k a year from making 50k at a job can be a huge windfall for a person trying to survive and pay the bills on a daily basis doing a job they can barely tolerate.

Why must we tolerate ILLEGAL immigration?

Be clear about expectations going forward, that you want a plan to pay you the money owed, and that going forward a shortage in rent will not be tolerated.