Choosing location and neighborhood

[Ty Meder]

Hey y'all. I'm 23 and extremely new to real estate and decided last week it's time to pull the trigger on a duplex (or start with single-family if I can't find a good duplex, then expand). I just moved to southern Florida five months ago from Ohio and I'm currently looking for a good area to start buying property. I'm pretty good at crunching numbers now due to my research over the last week, but I'm struggling with finding a good area to focus down on. I use statistic websites to see crime rate, increase/decrease in population, average salary, etc.. I got pre-approval for 500k, and I'm trying to figure out what area will get me the best return. So I guess this is a three part question:

1. Is a low-income area something to be avoided due to the headache of vacancy, bad tenants, crime, etc.?

2. Should I even care about neighborhood statistics online (besides vacancy stat), or is it not really important when it comes to rentals?

3. Does anyone know someone in southern Florida doing BRRRR / house hacking that can help me while I'm starting out? I'm consuming a ton of content online daily and listen to the BiggerPockets podcast, but I think someone local to the area I'm in will know information nobody else does, and they can steer me in the right direction before I make beginner level mistakes. I'm currently using realtors for advice, but at the end of the day they're trying to close a deal so they aren't going to save me from buying a terrible property. They're obviously going to advise me to buy real estate in the area they selling in. I also know they're sick of me asking them 1000 questions.