The "realtor" who claimed that taxi drivers opinions are indicators of real estate trends vs. the college educated guy who pointed out micro-economic principles of supply and demand, not statistically invalid public opinion of statistically insignificant sample sizes of irrelevant opinions of low income and uneducated people, drive real estate.

And if the housing trend continues up the way it has been, then maybe more like 255k.

In my opinion this is especially true after a long trend of rising prices in the MSP real estate market.Good luck on finding and hacking a house!

You'll have a hard time finding anything under $300,000 right now with much value-add in the hottest areas on the North and Northwest side.

Do you keep an eye on smart meter data from the customers to see trends in their usage? 

However, you can look at trends and make some reasonably accurate guesses.

As for crime, perception is reality in spfld, but the actual crime map has no general trend anymore.

I don't see any indicators that this trend is going to reverse anytime soon.I personally think the Tacoma 4-plex is a better investment but only if the numbers pencil out including a property manager. 

It shows you market rent trends by property type and also provides a RISC score by neighborhood - basically an estimate of how stable rents are in the area. 

Here are the reports I use:Consumer Housing Trends Report by ZillowCommercial Real Estate Trends Report by IRREmerging Trends in Real Estate by PWCNorth American Cap Rate Survey by CBREState of the Real Estate Market by RCLCOUS Multifamily Investment Forecast by Marcus and Millichap