Sorry to double dip, but I wanted to add one more thing...
I had really positive results when I approached the
locals in these areas. They will be far less suspicious of your presence, but even more, they are the portals to the most valuable nuggets of information on just about any location you find yourself wondering about. My interactions with locals on this trip proved to be probably the best local interactions I've come across in a very long time. Most of them would light up and their whole demeanor would change when I started asking them about the property across the street from their home, etc. Two or three of these people had actually been students in a couple abandoned schools I was exploring and one of them went so far as to walk me to the front entrance and make POE suggestions for the rest of the campus, lol. His business card is still in my wallet!
Good luck and feel free to PM me if you'd like.