How To Research a Neighborhood

[Stephen Brown]

Hello All,

Here are some guidelines I found about researching a neighborhood.

1. 1. If it is a mid-sized city, not a metro, you want to have a 20% population growth. If the population is larger than 1M, there should be a 15% growth, larger than 2M should have 10%
2. 2. You want to see a 30% difference between median income between now and 20 years ago.
3. 3. Median household or condo value should have a 40% increase between now and 20 years ago
4. 4. Crime Numbers MUST be under on the decline
5. 5. There should be Job Growth THIS YEAR (No one care about 3 years or 5 years) and small cities need to be scrutinized because maybe there is one strong employer
6. 6. Invest in a block of town that has a larger population
7. 7. Compare the median income to the median home value (600k median home value and 230k median income? No way!)
8. 8. You should want a household Income in the neighborhood is between $40k and 70k
9. 9. Median Contract Rent should be between $700 and $1000
10. 10. Don’t invest in areas that have an unemployment rate of 2% higher than the nearest major city

What do you guys think of these guidelines? I've never invested before, but they seemed credible. However, I've noticed that there are no areas like this where I live.