Predicting City Growth - What Trends & Data Matter?

[Ben Hofstra]

Hey everybody, I am planning to buy my first investment property in the form of a house hack in the next year and a half. My current goal is to narrow down areas to look at so that I can start paying closer attention to those markets. I have been looking at factors that affect where I would like to live (weather, politics, taxes, night life, etc.) but I am guessing that these don't necessarily indicate a good financial investment. It seems that future growth would mean a good investment. What trends do y'all use to predict future growth? And what factors other than future growth would impact whether or not a market is good to invest in or not?