They don't have a way of monitoring it, i.e. if I said one thing and do another.

I have some experience with the Sheriff sales, and have monitored the Junes sales for several years, but haven't gone to one yet. 

Pricelabs monitors the local markets daily and will adjust your pricing by not only yours and local occupancy but also the price of other units around (hotels included). 

Hard to monitor out of state.

At AvenueWest Managed Corporate Housing we monitor 26 different national platforms to connect our privately owned furnished monthly rentals with corporate travelers. 

Stessa’s rent collection feature lets real estate investors automate typically manual parts of rent collection, including depositing checks, charging late fees, and monitoring payments for financial reporting.

I'm going to monitor prices in the winter for comparable properties.

If you have not done so already, set up some keywords to monitor.

To me, going back to your thesis, there is reason to be relatively confident prices will stay firm and appreciating for at least the next 3-5 years but I sure intend to keep monitoring that.

You should consider that area to make your first acquisition, so you can monitor it closely.