Anywhere that's a discrete suburb (preferably cut off from where decent people live by a bridge or railway crossing) takes a long time to go from "slum" to "trendy" in the eyes of most people, despite it actually being a nice place to live. But everyone who is in on the secret gets outrageously cheap rent, a great place to buy, and funny looks from co-workers.
Anywhere that's a discrete suburb (preferably cut off from where decent people live by a bridge or railway crossing) takes a long time to go from "slum" to "trendy" in the eyes of most people, despite it actually being a nice place to live. But everyone who is in on the secret gets outrageously cheap rent, a great place to buy, and funny looks from co-workers.