You will want to avoid markets where a single industry dominates the local economy in the number of jobs since these kinds of markets a incredibly susceptible to swings in the market.Census Bureau: Building Permits Survey (BPS)The purpose of the Building Permits Survey (BPS) is to provide national, state, and local statistics on the number and valuation of new privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in the United States.

That said, depending on your current property's economies of scale a good CPA might not be in the cards right now.If you're willing to do the research you'll probably be able to DIY your return reasonably correctly with the upper-tier versions of TurboTax, etc. 

Having economies of scale allows you to take a loss here and there without complete disruption to your cash flow. 

I have properties in PR, and I'm somewhat familiar with the economy, and I wander how this will impact the economy and the REI in Puerto Rico moving forward. 

Cap rates are a very simplistic value used to measure the much more complicated and diverse economic eco system in each market They allow us to quickly and easily asses the health and condition of a local investment economy, and more accurately predict the future returns on our investments.

If the economy goes down, that will be one of the first to go down. 

Of course you living there provides way more insight into the current economy and personality of the area, than anybody who has not experienced Chicago and is just talking.

I don't price things out at midwest zip code price points, but there's reasonably credible reason to believe mortgage banks might be a better deal if $50,000 mortgages are the norm in your area due to some economy of scale issues with the wholesale brokered mortgage model. 

A triplex or four-plex would be a good way to get better returns with the economies of scale.

The economy seems more predictable than housing.