Be warned that you are now speculating (educated gambling), and a gentrifying neighborhood can quickly fall out of favor. 

I'm still getting familiar with the neighborhoods, but I'd say my favorites right now are Speedway, Irvington, Little Flower, and the area surrounding Butler.

(For fun question) What is your favorite food?

I don't know if the excuses you list are ones they have given but my favorite is I didn't do it, well neither did I but I'm assuming someone you allowed in the house did. 

I considered several promising markets in the Midwest and Southeast, even took a four-day trip to check out my favorite market at the time, Fayetteville, AR. 

My favorite two when I was starting was the "Millionaire Real Estate Investor" by Gary Keller and "The Book on Rental Property Investing" by Brandon Turner.  

Our favorite fix and flip investors, Ellen DeGeneres and wife Portia DeRossi are looking to flip a nine-acre Montecito compound for a "nice" $39.9 million (just a year after buying the seaside spread for $27 million).

(Cashflow from other investments make this possible) They invest following the macro and micro trends and don’t gamble on gimmicks such as guessing where Amazon’s next HQ is going or where the hurricanes just crushed a market.

Our favorite zips are 29601 29605 29607 29609 29611. 

I agree about learning the neighborhoods, I am going to do more research, narrow down my favorite markets and go out and actually see the properties and neighborhoods before I invest.