Those that support the following goal: "Strategically concentrating on specific NC neighborhoods, purchasing homes, rehabbing to "responsibly Rent", revitalizing those neighborhoods and later selling the homes for a profit.

I deal with buy, rehab and sell owner occupant properties and there is nothing worse than seeing a neighborhood going down the tubes because of rentals. 

Good neighborhoods.

I would contend that where location ranks on the "importance" scale depends largely on your specific goals.

I thought this would set a good tone for the property and catch eyes of people who may be driving through the neighborhood.

Contrary to the opinion of some, in most jurisdictions you can collect a number of applications at the same time and then rank them according to your previously established rental criteria.

I have a contract to purchase a residential foreclosure in a affluent neighborhood for $160,000 but property current as-is value before doing any rehab work is more like $280,000-320,000.      

Flipping requires being a little choosier about neighborhoods.

I know the crime rate is high (maybe very high) and those are not what can be considered a "good neighborhoods" but how is that should impact my decision?   

Occasionally I might find a really good deal that's also in a great neighborhood and I think it would be an awesome rental.