I come from a town which locally has a reputation for being rough. People in my county will always laugh when they hear where I’m from and the jokes start.
I don’t get my knickers in a twist about it. I don’t personally insult them and call them stupid, etc. I just laugh and say it’s not that bad and move on.
I was genuinely interested in why the property prices are so much for an area which has a reputation, backed up by stats for being so economically depressed.