Comparing two deals - with almost same price point #1. no rent increases but Percentage rent lease - There is a base rent ( ~65% of NOI)  and the rest is percentage of their gross sales in last 12 months#2. 10% rent increase every 5 yearsAs a newbie option #2 seems preferable /safer to me, and #1 may be slightly riskier.

It has one of the highest poverty rates in the country, declining population, and not much going for it.

Yes, you can rely on appreciation and rent increases if you do not need the cashflow now.

It is likely that in most markets away from the west coast, they will see growth in population and increase in values.

This is a very fair game I could say, I meant to say in the real world they're just "property management"/REIT that doesn't necessarily have to perform to buy/sell the property to increase NAV.

I was thinking to increase rent by 200 over the course of 3 months to get to fair market price.

If that's your market, your only choice is to get aggressive or sit vacant.Consider lowering the price but increasing your standards.

Additionally, the macroeconomics here has seen significant growth - population and jobs are both growing, and major companies started moving and developing here (Intel, Google, Amazon, FB, etc).

I would like to be able to put more money into the deals to increase my return.

Bookkeeping when it comes to real estate investments can get tricky.I often find the following mistakes occur1) They fully write off the mortgage payment when in reality the mortgage payment is broken down into Interest, principal paydown and an increase into the escrow account.2) If the property is managed by a PM company, do not factor in the PM Statement3) do not calculate depreciation expenseBest of luck in your search for a proper bookkeper.