If have investment property, we are looking for relatively updated units (we are ok doing some work ourselves), class C+/B tenants, with rents either close to market rate or that can be increased.

Seems like there are a lot of individuals in this boat  -  especially in my sons line of work  - which is lighting and tech for special events and music tours.

@Andrew Katz new construction in a Class C neighborhood?

When a Class A apartment can be had for the same price as a Class B/C renovated unit, the B/C operator drops prices, and so on.But, in terms of making an investment decision, I think it is short sighted to rely purely on full market average data.  

Managing Class C & D properties is NOT for every PMC!

They seem to be trying to use a PMC model designed for Class A properties/tenants for Class B, C and sometimes D.Can't use the same business model for all classes of properties/tenants. 

-Landlord  What class is this property? 

The real estate investing industry uses "Classes" to rank property performance risk, but there's NO agreed upon industry model:(Here's what we use for our Metro Detroit market:Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

Regardless, you might find the copy & paste info below helpful:)--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

Your setup is very common and I know plenty of folks in the exact same boat.