i live in "the hood," and although it's not my favorite place i've ever lived, it's OK. my fiancee has lived there for 10 years and never had a problem. i don't take a lot of walks at night, but i did have to ride the bus home from my job last summer, oftentimes getting home at 11 pm or later, and never had a problem. but definitely visit the place after dark on the weekends -- especially on a night when the weather is nice -- and see what your spidey senses have to say.
the one problem we do have living in our neighborhood is that absolutely no one will buy our house from us. it needs some work, but the house itself is only worth about $30K, so we are loath to put much cash into it. we've made cosmetic improvements just to make ourselves more comfortable living there, but since it needs work, and since it's in the 'hood, absolutely no one will buy it. so, we are kind of stuck there ... not sure what we are going to do when we're ready to move, but we'll figure something out.
anyway, yeah. think about exit strategy. is this place likely to sell when and if you want to offload it?
one last thing: i see a lot of people moving at night in my neighborhood. this tells me they are skipping out on some sort of obligation... a more transient lifestyle seems to be more common the less money people make. you may have more trouble finding a good tenant than you would in a more upscale neighborhood. that's not set in stone, obviously -- i was a renter in my 'hood for years and always took care of things. but it's something to be aware of ...