Grades are great, so are achievements.

My projects were complete redevelopment so they were then removed as part of the site grading and any extra contamination was removed.

The right investment strategy for you depends on many factors including: how much you have to invest: starting out with $250K will afford you different opportunities than starting out with $50K your risk profile:  can you handle having unexpected issues, maybe many of them or are you more comfortable accepting a lower return for less problemsyour lifestyle: similar to the last point- if you travel a lot or are under constant pressure at work investments where you're always getting calls from your property manager or tenants aren't going to work well for youCleveland offers a low $ point of entry as well as a number of higher grade but lower return opportunities (that also have some appreciation potential). 

Most investors use a letter grade rating scale from A-F to describe various areas and neighborhoods.

There plenty of other opportunities elsewhere, my clients are involved in institutional grade properties across the country.

The water meter was also located below grade in the slab and that had to be brought above grade in order to pass inspection.

But actually if you go look, you will see down grades in housing coming out.

Just make sure you read The Ultimate Guide to Grading Cleveland Neighborhoods to help you learn what's what out here.

I think you need to find a better grade of contractor. 

In that case, a house orig. built in 1978 would be serious competition with one orig. built in 1999.  60% of the time you may be catering to first time home buying couples looking to start a family and will be in the home for 5 years on average and 25% you're customers are fresh out of college singles with a cushy six-figure income that want to be amidst all of the action in town, who moves after 1 to 3 years  Then there's the already established single / couple (who has adult kids not living with them) looking to down-grade in size or for a simple change, from suburbs to rural maybe, whom you cater to 15% of the time and don't plan on moving after this.