So here's my question:  Do rents tend to act more "rationally" (for lack of a better word) than home price appreciation and therefore rental markets are in general more stable and predictable?  

(obvious declaimers about predicting the future are assumed :-)) This would likely be used for new development and be of most interest to a developer building from the ground up.2) Assuming the family is looking to sell in the next few years, what is the best way to execute on a property this size?

Funny thing is, they are usually right, but in a lottery winning sort of way...if you don't count all the other years they predicted it...and nothing happened.

it seems most use Excel....Personally the last few years i have been extremely hands off on my rentals, i have all my rentals managed professionally and have had so little problems that i can go an entire year without hearing from them and print out my tax info for tax season....Since im actually studying to invest in real estate better and make better ROI, i am looking to setup tracking on my properties so i can understand my numbers better and predict things in the future...I was curious if someone would share an example of how they are tracking their properties and expenses so i can format my own correctly from the start. 

The upside to them is that they would get regular, predictable payments at a decent interest rate. 

If your income is steady and predictable you shouldn't have any problems.

Any futuristic ideas / predictions, particularly regarding land values/ prefabs?

If you are not able to add value in your active portfolio (or get predictable appreciation), 15-20% passive returns will be competitive or beat active investing, with much less work.What is also interesting is if you look at your post-rehab returns on your active portfolio (i.e. holding after the value add), they can be on par with a passive investment...but more work than a passive investment.

Please rank the following areas for highest predicted home value increase over next 2 years:EverettEast BostonDorchester (which area within Dorchester)South BostonWinthropRevereRoxbury

If they are halfway decent they will give you a break down of ROI on your purchase, and predict what rent will be after.