Looking to buy and hold in West Allis, WI

[Jared Michalski]

Newbie investor and new to BiggerPockets as well. I’m looking to invest in my first house hack in my hometown of West Allis. My city has gone through a rough patch over the last few years as crime has increased and businesses closed down. However there is suddenly a lot of development in West Allis. New luxury apartments are being built in a few areas of the city as well as businesses such as gas stations, restaurants, a beer garden, a car wash, and some other “trendy” businesses that will bring in a new crowd. Project housing was tore down and abandoned houses were replaced with new homes. Homeowners are rushing to sell their homes and get out of the city due to the increase in crime. My question is, would it be smart to invest in this area with increasing crime, since there is such a huge spike in development right now? Also, on the latest podcast they mentioned we are in a bubble and they expect it to burst in 2-4 years. Should I invest now before development finishes and West Allis goes back to the desirable place to live it once was? Or would that be irrelevant considering theres expected to be a market crash in 2-4 years and values will temporarily drop anyways?

Basically

-I do not want to wait to buy in this area after its too late and development finishes

-I also do not want to buy anything right before a potential crash