Nobody has a crystal ball.

I'd suggest you make your request for information crystal clear to the Realtor; Realtors get all kinds of requests and asked questions allthe time but I gotta say, when you get a request that is off the norm where someone is asking for what might be private, that Realtor has to stop and think, (can I do this, should I do this, is there any benefit for my time).

But I am working on transactions from Sauk Village to Crystal Lake.

And if I were a professional real estate investor, it would be crystal clear.

Appreciation and how fast that will rise in an area versus inflation is a speculation play.Nobody has a crystal ball on that one.

There is no crystal ball here, but I'm personally using the unemployment rate as my leading indicator.

Just hoping crystallize my strategy for my next deal (#2).Thanks in advance

. :)As to my crystal ball allowing greater insight, most just call it experience and knowledge.

Bob, as Jeff Brown would say, "my crystal ball is cracked and hasn't come back from the repair shop" or something along those lines.

Hi @Jegan Basha,You could chalk my risk adverse investment approach up to recency bias but it's really a matter of returning to time tested value investing principles that have worked since they were crystallized by Keynes and Ben Graham.... and long before being explicitly called by that name.Briefly on the apartment market cycle: Different people measure the cycle differently but one of the most common methods is by market vacancy.