Though I've dug into the possibilities of investing in STR's as well, it's a little less predictable and that might impede with your goals or timeline (depending how you answered the above).

Predicting the future is tough.

People with Jobs (easy to predict)  or people retired (not as easy to predict)  Few people will pay to rent something more than 30 minutes form their job.

I also sold these same investors small plex's in Portland and Vancouver and they did OK went down a bit but still retained tenants.. no one is predicting a 08 melt down myself especially other wise I would not be buying all the lots I am buying to build new construction for new homeowners in multiple markets

It's really hard to predict future impact on the value.   

With all of these new apartments and lofts being made, it is clear that there is a prediction for the future on influx of students to this area.

But if you find a good deal don't psych yourself out of it trying to predict the economy. 

Lastly, if anybody has a good idea on how to predict reappraisal and refinance expectations, please let me know about your experiences!

The future is hard to predict because it is always changing.

So it's hard to predict what the cash flow can be and whether a property is a good deal or not.