Many buyers get wrapped up in the specifics of a house that they want. Yet they pull up to the house and see that the rest of the houses could be run down, it could back up to a busy street, it could be too close to power lines, it could back up to a busy shopping center and so on. I always recommend my buyers do drivebys before we go see the inside of the home. They can eliminate a good chunk of them through drivebys which positions them to see the best possible houses when we go see the insides.
Here is a good article from Bankrate that goes over some other things to look for in neighborhoods: http://www.bankrate.com/finance/real-estate/inspect-future-neighborhood-1.aspx