I also included an additional $7,500 starting balance at Year 1, since we would have money leftover from our first property, compared to the original investment of the previous strategies.

Lower property taxes, affordable housing compared to LA (CA buyers are usually cash buyers because what they net from their smaller home in CA can get them a bigger home here, often covered by what they net from their CA sale), allergies (smog), and politics. 

I am at 1757% less this year in stocks as compared and I thought that was great.

There are other players in the game to compare with like Kenny Bedwell at STR Insights or Bill Faeth's coaching.

Understand the fees involved and calculate the total cost for an entire year of management so you can compare the different managers.

Of course the high crime statistics cannot be ignored in these cites, however I'm planning to buy only in the nicer/low crime neighborhoods which hopefully eliminates most of the crime risk.I was wondering if any of you could provide feedback on comparing these 3 cities.

I was comparing large cities to other large cities.  

Well you'd actually be netting more in the long run by doing so compared to putting it towards the home. 

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

Not the greatest occupancy rate, especially when compared with somewhere like the Smokies.