I gauge a neighborhood and its quality by a few items. Obviously, I run census data, get some reliable numbers for socio-economic data.
Then it becomes more of an art:
How many people are riding bikes, exercising, etc
Do running, cycling, fitness groups pass through on routes
How many people walk their animals
Do I see obvious illegal activity spots. Multiple people standing at a store/corner for more than 10 minutes.
How many homes have their windows open?
When I(or my wife) pull up in a car how much attention does it draw. Whats people on the streets body language?
Is a neighborhood full of old people who are fixed income? Or do I see large numbers of prime-age males not doing anything? Playing basketball, football, talking to girls, working on a car/bike is fine. But just standing in front of a property, on the porch, walking up and down the street not headed anywhere. Obvious gang-affiliation tattoos.
A high amount of cars with too much put into it. I'm not talking about a 7-series in front of a $8000 house, I'm talking about a 10 year old Chevy Tahoe, with $15,000 rims, a $8000 paint job, Chrome finishings. Not 1 or 2 of these cars but multiple. The contractor I use his building is in The Hood for real for real. I tell people I have to go meet him over there and people's ears/eyes perk up. He keeps his classic cars there behind a 20 foot fence with barb wire, then he removed something from the vehicles so they can't start. I use to hangout in that neighborhood in my late teens and early 20s, and if someone offered me 200 houses for $50K I wouldn't take them, even if they were livable. I knew a guy who was Contract Killer (he's dead now) who lived in a half-boarded up burned-down house in that neighborhood. I get wholesalers trying to sell me properties in that part of town saying its "close to, not far from". Which I laugh.
Do I see any schools, or many closed schools? Really bad neighborhoods/areas often require far travel for schools particularly HS.
How old are billboards in the area? Not one or two, but if I see several advertising events that come and gone 5+ years ago not a good sign, I know one neighborhood in Detroit still with a Final Four 2009 advertisement, an Obama 2008, and personal favorite a billboard for failed rapper from 2007ish who actually grew up not far from me in a ritzier suburb(its consistently named top-50 places in America for families) than I grew up in (Eminem making fun of a guy going to Cranbrook where guys like Mitt Romney went, its a real thing locally).
If I see no police in the area riding by or walking over the course of a few hours. Really bad sign. Meaning they don't care, The Citizens don't want them around, and even worse someone has someone paid off at the local precinct.
We often just sit on houses in shifts (once we target one), and navigate the neighborhood walking, driving, biking several times over a couple months prior to targeting a neighborhood.
