Is Springfield, MA good for Buy & Hold?

[Steeve Breton]

Hello BP Community.

Anyone have good working knowledge of the Springfield, MA area? I'm looking to pickup more buy & hold properties and seems like I have to go west of Worcester, MA to get respectable cash flow (near the 2% rule) or (12+% cash on cash w/ some leverage). My questions are many but can be summed up as follows.

1. Are there solid B neighborhoods in Springfield, MA? ... meaning several blocks not just block by block.

2. If you were to generalize the Springfield population, would it be fairly negative from a landlord's perspective? I've read MANY posts on other sites about how Springfield renters are mainly pot smoking lazy bums that don't care about their living conditions and will likely not pay rent and often damage your property.

I invest in multifamily part time and looking for good cash flow to support retirement in 15 years. I would hire a property manager for any Springfield properties. However, even with a PM, a crappy neighborhood and tenants would be too much hassle for me to do part time.

Thoughts?