I took the time to point this out because many first time home buyers don't know what to look out for. They buy a home in what “used” to be a good area only to find out “after” they bought, that the neighborhood is in decline along with the property values. Which can decimate a young couple financially.
I have been buyer fixer upper’s and flipping them my whole life and have learned to immediately detect the signs of a declining neighborhood.
(note) if you live in an area with historical homes that have no garages or only single car detached garages then this probably doesn't apply to you. If you live in an area with million dollar mansions, this doesn't apply to you. This is information that applies mostly to suburban neighborhoods built after 1950.
That’s really weird.
I have never lived in a neighborhood where cars parked outside the homes (with garages) was considered a bad sign, however...
I have seen the types of cookie-cutter developments where it is verboten to leave cars out. Maybe it’s in the HOA covenants or what have you.
These brand spanking new neighborhoods would always creep me out. Perfect (contracted?) landscaping, no vehicles trashing the appearance, no open cluttered-up garages (i.e. workshops). IOW little if any signs of life, save for the lawns and trees.
The places may have been brand new and occupied, but they looked dead. Green graves was the impression I got. Well to each their own. Maybe just popular with busy working spouses who spend little time at home anyway.
So that may be a regional thing also, but if a first sign of such a neighborhood’s decline is that the cars are left out, then I would suspect that the neighborhood was dead from birth. The visible cars not being the red flag, but the initial lack thereof.