You will find that those states without sales taxes have relatively high property taxes (regressive) which are impossible to avoid as one either pays them directly or as a component of rent. 

And I believe we may be over leveraged with something like 7 300k+ homes where a few possible vacancies and/or large unexpected payments could make it all come crashing down.

Any lessons learns or unexpected bumps along the way? 

You'll want to find a partner that has one or both of the other components that you're looking for.

Another component for me to keep in mind is that I have a STR permit on my house and last year, I started renting it out over the summer when I traveled.

Start small, focus on strong rentals, opt for conservative financing, and maintain a financial buffer for unexpected expenses.

The migration is there, just nowhere near what they thought it'd be.The only reason it is not worse is because some even got stalled due to unexpected issues beyond supply chain(funding and taxes).

I also value the risk component at tenant, capex stuff.

While I find this interesting at a general curiosity level, which is why I am sure you shared, there is always a component of "what do I do with this?".

Detroit, in particular, stood out as an unexpected frontrunner, registering the highest year-over-year home price growth among the metro areas analyzed in the report and surpassing Miami for the first time in 16 months.