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- The Neighborhood Test That Never Fails
The Neighborhood Test That Never Fails
Reddit’s Top Stocks Beat the S&P by 40%
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Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investing involves risk including possible loss of principal.
90 Seconds to a Better Buy

The 90-Second Neighborhood Check
How to quickly size up a neighborhood’s investment potential without pulling a single comp.
Real estate analysis is wonderful in theory: spreadsheets, comps, charts, indexes, and enough data to make a Federal Reserve economist blush. But sometimes you don’t have the luxury of sitting in front of a screen. Sometimes you’re standing on a sidewalk, looking around, wondering whether you’ve quietly discovered a promising pocket… or wandered into the wrong chapter of a Charles Dickens novel.
That’s where the 90-Second Neighborhood Check comes in. It’s not complicated, and it doesn’t require an app. It’s what experienced investors do instinctively: a rapid-fire read on the surrounding environment using visual cues, human behavior, and the subtle signals every neighborhood gives off.
Here’s how to size it up in under a minute and a half.
1. Look at the Cars (30 seconds)
Cars tell the truth. People lie, but cars are honest little autobiographies sitting right there on the street.
A mix of well-kept middle-class vehicles? Good.
A neighborhood full of brand-new luxury cars? The area is probably at or near peak valuation.
A high concentration of battered, duct-taped survivors of the Reagan administration? Strong possibility the rents will be low and the repairs will be high.
You don’t need to judge the people — just the level of deferred maintenance. Deferred maintenance on cars almost always correlates to deferred maintenance on houses.
2. Look at the Lawns and Porches (30 seconds)
No neighborhood reveals itself faster than through porches. They are the original social media feed: you see who lives there, what they value, and sometimes what they had for dinner.
Signs of stability include:
Trimmed lawns
Working porch lights
A chair or two that looks used
Minimal debris
A house doesn’t need to be perfect; it just needs to be cared for.
Plato wrote that “what is honored in a community will be cultivated there,” and if what’s honored is clean porches and cut grass, you’re probably in good shape.
If every porch looks like it’s storing the cast of a post-apocalyptic survival show… proceed with caution.
3. Watch the People (30 seconds)
In 90 seconds, you won’t meet anyone, but you’ll see everything you need:
Are people outside?
Do they look comfortable?
Are kids playing?
Do dog-walkers exist?
Does anyone make eye contact, even briefly, without looking startled?
People outside in daylight is one of the strongest markers of a livable street. Human beings only linger where they feel safe and welcome. If the sidewalks are empty, the blinds are closed, and the atmosphere feels like the opening scene of a noir film, trust your instincts.
The Bonus Check (If You Have 15 More Seconds)
Find the nearest house for sale or rent and glance at the condition. If the listing looks cared for, staged, freshly painted… the neighborhood probably has active investment and pride of ownership.
If the for-sale house looks abandoned, unloved, or photographed using a broken 2009 flip phone… that’s a trend too.
Final Thought
The 90-Second Neighborhood Check isn’t the whole story — you’ll still run your comps, analyze rents, and vet repairs. But this quick read saves you from wasting time on deals that fail the sniff test before you ever pop the trunk to get your clipboard.
Great investors rely on data.
Exceptional investors combine data with observation.
And sometimes, all you need is 90 seconds and a functioning pair of eyes.
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