How much crime is ok?

[Stephanie Cabral]

I'm looking at a two family to purchase in a well-kept neighborhood that is a few blocks away from a rougher neighborhood. The deal is over a 2% deal, more like 2.3% with a strong renters community. My agent used to own in the area and is nervous because he says it was run by gangs then but as part of my due diligence, I reached out to the police department to ask about the call log for the street and the surrounding grid  and they mentioned they haven't had gang issues in years. They provided me with a fairly long report but all were non-violent crimes, except for a few domestic disturbances. On the street in the past 5 years, most of the calls are suspicious behavior, noise complaints, etc with a few motor vehicle burglaries and one auto theft. There was one burglary (breaking and entering) and one arson committed by the property's tenant. I'd consider this a C neighborhood and can mitigate the risk by installing motion activated flood lights and security cameras. I'm inclined to proceed with the purchase but wanted to get thoughts from you all at BP. 

Thanks in advance for your input!

[Kevin Siedlecki]

@Stephanie Cabral - Anything over 2% in CT is probably not a great neighborhood. I wouldn't want to invest in the neighborhood you're describing, but that's because I want more of a hassle-free area, even if it means slightly lower returns on paper. I'm also not high on the long-term outlook of anything more an a few miles from Yale, since basically everyone else is fleeing the state.