The median income also lessens the impact of ultra-high-wages residents (which you and I both know are far more common in NY than the city of Cleveland).As an aside, I don't like using the city of Cleveland as a statistical marker.

Statistically, the city has low rates of crime for a city of that size within the 'rust belt', average income and unemployment figures, relatively low rental vacancies, and, most importantly, SFRs at less than 30k which, based on my understanding of the area, do not follow the popular negative sentiment on homes at this price point.  

When I was an undergrad, I had a statistics teacher who didn't allow calculators!

Here is a low-down on what is going on in Wake county. https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51/topics/166945-statistics-on-sdira-lending-and-owning-one-county-in-ncPM me for the custodian I used, if you want a name.

In my accounting books, should I classify this "deferred maintenance" as a "repair" (and factor that into my repair budget), or consider it simply as a cost of buying the house (affecting cash-on-cash and cap rate statistics)?

It shows trends and statistics about the accepted price vs list.

I'm not basing it on any statistics, just general feeling around the area and my gut.

I've got more headaches than ever before.And yet, statistically - I've got more time behind me than ahead of me!

Most important, figure out what your statistics look like, and try to improve upon them. 

I believe that's statistically extremely unlikely.