Tenants who like their current arrangement and want to stay, might welcome the predictability of a new contract with the new owner.

With that said since you are trying again, I would recommend Keller Williams (not because I am there), they have amazing training and lots of great tools to help you grow a sustainable and predictable business.

Are there some static things one can look out for to predict what's coming next?

I wish there was a tool which can look into age/condition of the house, locality, demographics etc. and predict all the cost components such as vacancy, maintenance with a high confidence.

No-one can control or predict the market, I'm just happy it adjusted in my favor. 

Flip a coin, that is as reliable a system as any to predict the future success of any marriage.

Your question regarding incorporating the appropriate rent rate suggests that there is some way to predict where the rents will go.

Good luck with that tenant, I predict problems.

Joe, it is true you can't pay for pizza:) but for some investors it's about building passive income to retire on, pay for kids college/wedding... our market has gone up 26% in the last 12 months, predicted to go up another 20% in the next 12...  

Obviously, we can't predict the future, but, what numbers might you pencil in here?