Real estate is an industry that's all about hyper-local expertise. As an agent, you specialize in specific zip codes, home types, client types—you name it. This industry is as much about niche specialties as it gets.

That said, if you want to be the agent who blows away the competition and makes your business go gangbusters this year, you need to know how and when to expand your expertise into new areas of interest. And that means that you need to anticipate what neighborhoods are going to be super hot in the near future. If you establish yourself as the go-to agent in those markets now, there will be no stopping you in the future.

Here are the top telltale signs of a soon-to-be hot market. Play your cards right, and your business (and clients!) will thank you for it!

1. Trend-Following Businesses Are Moving In

In my neck of the woods, when a co-working space, a Whole Foods or a Blue Bottle coffee moves into the neighborhood, it's a sign that the nature of the neighborhood might be changing. This is just as true for small, local businesses that attract people with disposable income as it is for businesses that sell the basics with flair.

In fact, larger businesses tend to do a fair amount of economic research and projections on the neighborhood before moving in. Watching big industry and business moves can be a great way to spot emerging areas with strong fundamentals way before other agents might otherwise be able to see them.