Target neighborhood analysis and evaluation

[Tom Wilhelm]

There seem to be a few "what's the best city?" threads out there recently, but I'd like to dig a little into something related but far more specific/important(?), not to mention one of the next tasks my selected strategy (MF buy/hold) requires: neighborhood selection

I live in eastern MA, which means that finding a nearby neighborhood where I might find good cashflowing deals is rather difficult. In most towns in the Boston area the numbers simply aren't amendable to a buy/hold landloard strategy. Even on first glance this is obvious.

So I'm spreading the net further, not so much that I'm considering an "out of towner" strategy (valid though that may be), but enough that I need to identify a set of solid objective criteria to help me to determine which neighborhood(s) on which to focus. Some criteria I might consider for example: vacancy rate, rent/purchase ratio, area job growth, etc. This isn't about choosing one metro area over another. This about about choosing which specific area of a particular metro area in which to invest.

Beyond that, I'd also like to know if anyone uses any particular tools or formulas to evaluate neighborhoods before starting to look for specific properties.

So:
1. What criteria matter to you in deciding whether a specific street/neighborhood/town are a good investment target?
2. How do you crunch the numbers on those criteria?

Looking forward to responses from fellow landlords...

Thanks!