Rockford

I grew up here. Used to be a big manufacturing hub, but started losing jobs in the 1970's and continues to struggle. Best areas are north of East State St, and east of, say, Welty Avenue. Crime tends to be on west side, although there is crime in parts of southeast side near Broadway. Housing here is officially the most affordable in the world, according to demographic.com, but there is a lot of poverty and so homes are not kept up in many parts of the west side, and also the southeast side. The river area is beautiful. Rockford could make a key comeback if manufacturing were to come back to the U.S. It is conveniently located to Chicago, to rail lines, and interstates. Growth, if it were to occur, would likely exclusively be east and north of the city limits, near Interstate 90. There is much open land on which to grow.

I have 3 homes on the southeast side, which I bought for progressively lower amounts and renovated.

I would not buy on the west side, except possibly in Churchill Grove. Any future buying I would probably make sure that it's north of Rural St, and east of Fairview; as long as you keep those parameters in mind, there are some excellent affordable homes. There's an especially nice area of fine homes east of Interstate 90 as it curls up to Wisconsin, in a more rural area. I fully expect that area to continue to grow with the high-end homes.