Confused with local market

[Samantha Swenson]

I'm looking into buying my 1st property to use as a rental and to hold on to long term as a retirement plan, but my local housing is confusing me. I live in a smallish town surrounded by 4 other small towns, and in all of them the housing is very mixed. Completely trashed trailers, manufactured homes and Brand new builds are all mixed in with each other! All right next to each other! There is only one neighborhood that I would consider an A class neighborhood, the others will have an A class house next to a D....  so my question is, do you think it is still a smart move to invest in these areas In Hope's that eventually the nicer homes will out number the bad ones?  Or was it bad decision skills from the ones who built the nicer homes in that area? Or since they are for rental purposes in a VERY VERY high demand area for rentals it shouldn't matter what they are located next to.