They are setting a trend. which will never end. 

Then, in theory, you can pull your money out and let the rent income pay down the mortgage without any of your investment capital being held captive in the property.If I am off base someone please let me know.

Zillow is good for trends in my experience.

They will be able to share market trends; ADOM (Average days on market), new listings, existing inventory, and can certainly come across great deals for you.  

It drives me crazy, but that seems to be the trend where I am.

I was curious to see if there were any types of jobs or industries in common that seem to be a trend, or how far different professionals we are in our full time jobs?

However, I need to find reliable resources for researching local markets and economic trends.

We've been removing bathtubs from master bathrooms and enlarging the shower for over 10 years and the trend is only stronger and stronger each year.

Here is a map showing growth trends of major cities

Two other great resources if you're looking at apartment buildings (commercial) are:The urban land institute report:  http://uli.org/emerging-trends/emerging-trends-rea...andThe Dividend Capital Research Cycle Report - you need to search that in google and you will see a pdf file you can download.