While there are many other factors for making an area "highly desirable" or "undesirable" generally you should know the trends of things that matter to the tenants such as: schools, crime, local economic developments, companies relocating in or out of your area.According to latest stats, it appears home ownership is at lowest levels in way long, hence you can assume (pending the fannie mae 3% downpayment upcoming thing) that lots will rent.

Let's move on and assess the trends in the area, you observe from the chart that the rent is pretty much stable for the past 12 months, a good sign definitely.Next you take a look at "Who lives on the block", another major piece of the puzzle:While we're not going to make any comments, you will notice there is a strong correlation between Household income and Highest education attained and also you will use this information to correlate the Crime rate available in the next 2 widgets in the report:You notice an almost four times than nation average in the crime rate, including 10 murders and 9 rapes alone in the past 12 months and also more than double the amount Burglary and Thefts.

Some lender sellers have started the trend they won't pay a commission to a buyer who is a licensee.I like the accessibility to the houses I have as an agent.

As far as reading material...the real estate market is always changing so BP is a great place to stay up to date on current market trends.  

I have a duplex in arguably the hottest area of Nashville, TN for the last 3-4 years.

Everyone expects the laundry facility to be covered by rent, so it's not going to work.Besides just water, you also need a dedicated water heater for it, you can't teed off the hot water from a unit, because then that tenant is paying for the electric or gas to heat the water used by everyone.I am not sure it's cost effective, and even if it is, I believe the trend is towards more all inclusive in general. 

Yeah, sad story, I'm thinking that local economic trends, employment, crimes and stuff should have some sort of "SMS alert" type of product to tell you, Hey, it's time to get out, things are going downhill fast :D. 

That of course is only 1 Strategy and usually takes up to 2yrs to accomplish.NOTE: It is important to note that Industry Average CAP Rates change quarterly, so one has to always have their research updated each quarter to stay on top of market trends.

Knows all the market trends and is very informed in all the deals going on in the area.

Anyone know where I can find information on sales trends in that area?