Hello everyone, 

Hope everyone is healthy and safe. I have a question about neighborhood ratings. Please forgive me for question/s that might seem common knowledge to most. I am trying to learn from everything and everyone. 

If you are in investing, moving, or buying from out of state and not familiar with the neighborhoods or towns, is there a benchmark website or guide that you guys use? . What would your neighborhood key points or markers be? How do you guys know if the area is good area or a bad area without driving or surveying it personally?

I am hoping I am asking the right questions here. Any suggestions would be very much welcomed. 

Thanks in advance. 

@Roman Santos A great spot to get questions like that answered would be with property managers.  You'll need a consensus, so that means speaking to a lot of PMs, but eventually you'll get a "sense of things."  As well, you can always canvass people's opinions who had properties in those areas (assuming they actually have experience and not just a logical fallacy-loaded worthless opinion).  

It also helps to see what trends and events, etc., HURT real estate investors.  Things like single-industry towns are high risk, as are areas that have significant population decreases.  Arguably, areas with low real estate taxes are bad for appreciation in the long run, but the same can be said of high-tax areas.  So instead of looking for the good, simply avoid the bad.  

Keep in mind that no matter how much homework you do, a large minority of your "returns" will come from factors outside your control.  

Hi @Patrick Britton !

That's some good advice right there. I will start working on doing these. 

I will definitely keep these in mind. 

Thanks so much.