I am also interested in any affordable properties in Dignowity Hill for future flips (I know this is a HOT area but I've driven by and seen for sale signs).

I also found a source that stated that Creative investing is much more stable than Traditional because Traditional investors now more than ever have much more competition because of Hedge Funds and other institutions that heavily invest in real estate while the Creative approach is driven only by motivated sellers. 

Keep the forms spreadsheets so you have a second record of your data.

This is probably primarily driven by our lack of inventory, which many markets across the nation are experiencing. 

I compile the data myself from various sources.

City-data is a good source.

I'm excited to meet motivated, driven, fun people interested in real estate. 

I have no idea, but you said you feel it, so is it just a feeling or do you have data to back it up?

Can anyone from Buffalo reading this tell me how or where to obtain current and future jobs data, vacancy rates, rental rate in area, crime rates, etc, in order to determine whether a rental property is a good buy or not.I get the impression there is a records office in every city where I can get this info, but can I just request this type of info from this office?

I'm familiar with the idea of visiting a property and getting a 'feel' for the neighborhood types, but how can you back that up with hard data, or at the very least, concrete observations?