Love the wise and the straightforward approach! 

Cleveland, Baltimore, Toledo, Indy etc....You will see net population decreases in most of these areas but these are the areas where the prices are the lowest in the USA and come with rents that are very high when compared to the sales price.

So for me the decision was pretty straightforward, but it still required a lot of thought.It’s not easy out there these days folks, best of luck!

any suggestions on how I should compare these 2 options?

Compare other rentals with a similar size, location and bedroom count to get an estimate of what the rent would be while you're living there.

**Maintenance**: Be prepared for a bit more wear and tear compared to market-rate rentals.

Use AirDNA to get a better feel for what may be projected and then dive into Airbnb and compare to your competitors. 

Figure rates are significantly higher doing this instead of the more straight forward approach.  

And a condo can take longer to sell when you exit compared to a detached home.

Given you and your investor both have experience in different areas, I’d say keep a flexible approach and compare city requirements before putting too much money down.