Based on research so far, narrowed the areas to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge or Destin//PCB area.

Your lending, then, enables them to purchase the property with your loan (A to B) and then immediately pay you back with the sale of the same property (B to C), plus interest and fees.  

After narrowing down the city, I then had to consider what neighborhood should I invest in.

Plus, studying up on numerous resources and talking with numerous investors will give you a broad perspective on the many approaches to REI (as opposed to getting the relatively narrow perspective of just one mentor who has just one approach).

Once I narrowed my focus, set clear buy criteria, and built a solid local team, everything became more efficient.

The entire strategy is focused more on the forced appreciation and leverage than the general appreciation, which historically isn't as great as B and A class neighborhoods. 

I’ve narrowed my search down to Kansas City or Akron/Canton, OH.

We should narrow our vision and efforts, focus our resources.  

See the chart from Fair Isaac Company (FICO) below: FICO Score Pct of Population Default Probability 800 or more 13.00% 1.00% 750-799 27.00% 1.00% 700-749 18.00% 4.40% 650-699 15.00% 8.90% 600-649 12.00% 15.80% 550-599 8.00% 22.50% 500-549 5.00% 28.40% Less than 499 2.00% 41.00% Source: Fair Isaac CompanyAccording to this chart, investors should use corresponding vacancy + tenant-nonperformance factors of approximately 5% for Class A rentals, 10% for Class B and 20% for Class C.To address Class C payment challenges, many industry "experts" are now selling programs to newbie investors about how Section 8 tenants are the cure.

Having a Buy Box was so beneficial when sifting through numerous listings in our area, narrowing down to what were actual opportunities we wanted to pursue.