Thomas Hickey I’ll second what Ola mentioned about analyzing properties and a common trend appearing.

That way, you can be laser-focused and pick up on trends in the market.

You should also go to www.realtor.com and see what the "Trending" Listing prices are at that time as well. 

This isn't exact, but it gives you an idea of what people are paying.There is also a nice link for "Rent Trends", which tells you some of the averages.I'm sure that you can use IFTTT (If This Then That) to set up a spreadsheet for rents on Craigslist.

The trend line obviously has had downward pressure for a while about everywhere. 

Forget the charts or trends.

The trend that I am noticing is sellers are listing their 4plex way higher than comps, and hoping to get all cash buyer.

On Zillow its trending in the top 10% in the neighborhood and on Truilla its listed as a best value. 

From what I can tell so far from market research, it seems like rental popularity is really trending up over the past 5 years in Evansville and the surrounding area.

This is why IRR is used by sophisticated and institutional level investors.Understand this: the longer an investment takes time wise, the more likely the total IRR will be lower and trend downward.