It's just more obvious because of how beautiful it once was just a few years ago.If you guys have suggestions or opinions, I'm all ears and would love to hear them.

WaMu told me that there were 3 key elements in getting this to happen 1) My constant calling and making noise up the mgmt chain 2) A hardship, although not behind on payments it was obvious to them that we would be in a bad situation in the coming months if they didn't approve 3) The drastic drop in value and that it is still going down sharply in our area, their appraisal came in lower than our offer, which made them realize 8 to 9 months down the road when they get it back in foreclosure they will, not might, be in a deeper hole.The buyers loan funded on Friday, they got the keys from my realtor and started moving in.

@Ronald HollowayThis isn't Miss America, this is real estate, its what's between the ears not what's in front of the ears.

my HVAC is relatively new but makes buzzing noises and I want it to be checked.

I would also keep an eye& ear out for the emerging innovators, every significant economic shift and calamity breeds innovators and those innovators require seed capital, think Facebook, Google, Netflix and so on, those early $ investors made multipliers on their capital that makes any other investment pale in comparison.

For problem renters (late rent, noise, lease violations, etc.) you should inspect more often, maybe every three months.I would give the bad tenant a notice of inspection within 24 hours.

Consequently there might be a ton of "email noise" that a busy broker doesn't have time to wade through.

Outside of BP books, I have read Rich Dad (of course), and some mindset books like Think & Grow Rich, but if there are specific business/real estate books you recommend, I am all ears. 

Those answers are "noise" and will steer you towards an emotional decision and a bad investment. 

Only time will tell which sensors can be aggregated into useful data versus what inherent noise there will be.