So after more than a month of requesting i finally managed to get an inspector in and all the fears and speculations were true.

BRRRR is pretty specific and entails dealing with speculation of certain key variables, so you might have a hard time finding that one out there, but for a simple residential analysis, I'm going to point you to one that I used when I first started out that I really liked. 

I think it is very similar to buying a stock at 10 bucks and trying to sell at 12, making a profit on the speculation.  

I can only speculate what the end game is here. 

First, one of the things I have noticed is that sfh landlords are constantly evaluating and speculating on there homes worth and what it will be worth on x date or year.

I like to put down as little as possible on properties, provided they cash flow, so that I can use my remaining cash in other ways to generate returns (stocks, bonds, downpayment on another property, etc.)So, when counting your rent payment as income you'll speculatively receive from a tenant, find your cash on cash return using this conservative cash-flow ($150/month*12 months).  

It's hard to go wrong anywhere on the south, east, or north sides of downtown, especially if you are comfortable with buy and hold, although the city has recently released plans for a large development on the west side that is stirring some speculation. 

Portland is best for appreciation speculation.  

. $30,000 may be a lot of money to earn from a project, but if you had to churn $300,000 (and that much speculation risk), plus a lot of hard physical work, to get it, that's still a thin profit margin.

I'm sorry if this question seems a bit broad, but I'm really just getting into REI and see all these posts about people speculating on the performance of a given market in the next 5-10 years, and I was just wondering what exactly you're looking at to make those predictions?