Sounds like you guys would’ve been targeted.
I honestly think we would have. I always tend to have a “Naw, it will be fine.” attitude about stuff. Not this time. And it was the little things:
Waited ten minutes for the lobby to open. When it did, it was manned by this fat black lady with four inch nails and dressed almost like in a costume. There was a tenant coming in to complain with her toddler in tow that looked like a crack head. And her complaint was about her “rent” going up. A guy shows up in a taxi and parks behind our car, almost completely blocking it. And then it can’t start. And he gets mad at us for backing out and getting around him anyway.
And then we drive around to our unit: There must have been at least twenty people hanging around balconies and around cars in the lot, talking, screaming, etc.
When we went back to get our money back, the girl behind the counter had no authority to do that. And she was SHOCKED that I had read the contract and it said I had ninety minutes to say never mind. She read it like she never knew it said taht.
So we get in the car and I realize I hadn’t shut the trunk, so I pull into the nearest convenience store to shut it. Even THAT felt dangerous. The situation there was similar.
This sort of thing has never happened to me in KY and it never happened in Seattle either, and I lived there for 46 years. I even bicycled to work through the Central District and it never felt “dangerous”. This did.
This is also why I carry in my car now.