You're the landlord - not playground monitor. 

If you're looking for appreciation, the two strongest influences on demand (and appreciation) are population and job growth, so monitor those.If you're looking at which markets are volatile, that is impacted by many variables... population growth, job growth, job/industry diversity, local politics/regulation, development etc...Example: San Antonio's economy and job market is really driven mostly by health care and aerospace. 

@Will Fraser Thanks so much for your comprehensive and thoughtful response.I absolutely agree that every economic situation is different depending on what triggered the downturn, so I am continuing to watch and monitor how things progress in this current, ever-changing environment. 

They usually have some good locals that monitor each state forum. 

Our reservations dept monitor each reservation to make sure it is signed. 

I suspect most of my tenants don't monitor their credit and haven't noticed the improvement. 

Somehow my check on the "monitor topic" got unchecked so I didn't get updates.

It monitors temperature, humidity, and electricity.

Smart investors monitor this an as it goes below 10-15% they sell or refi and releverage.

That's my strategy, I hold a larger stock portfolio in index funds to accelerate growth, and monitor deals to purchase.