How do you do a city analysis?

[Stefano Gasperini]

Hello everyone!

I hope you are having a phenomenal Saturday! I am new to Real Estate Investing, and I am looking to get as much knowledge as I can, so I would genuinely appreciate your help.  A friend told me about BiggerPockets and I think it is great, and the beginner's guide is just fantastic. 

I am from Miami, and I want to start to look for opportunities to invest. I believe that the first step is to learn about the city and get a feel of it. However, I don't have a clear method to do this research. How do you go about analyzing a city or new market?

Thank you very much before hand!

[Gabriel Amedee]

@Stefano Gasperini I know my answer is one no one will want to hear but I've seen some of the greatest rental returns with section 8 properties. 

I rented a property for a buddy of mine in homestead and got it rented for $1,900 when comps in the area were asking $1,700 monthly. The reason why was that we were the only property accepting Section 8. He paid $110,000 for it in 2009 so he's cash flowing very well.

I know there is a lot of stigma towards section 8 but I've noticed if you screen them like any other tenant you should not have a problem. Section 8 or not, there are good tenants and there are bad tenants. Just my $0.02