Los Altos, Calif., remodeler Kacey Fitzpatrick uses information she gets from local realtors to help her forecast the immediate future. “I check in with them every couple of months,” she says. At the beginning of 2005, after hearing that home sales were up, the owner of Avalon Enterprises was able to put together a more aggressive business plan for the year without overextending herself.
Fitzpatrick also keeps an eye on the job market in her area. Recently, a client mentioned that she had three friends who, after being out of work for a long period of time, had all been hired within a month of one another. “To me, their long periods of unemployment indicate that they aren't necessarily the best people to hire,” Fitzpatrick says, but their hiring is an indication that the local economy is thriving.