Now do you have a table of comparison of property appreciation in those 3 states for last 5 yrs and 10 yrs? 

Not because they are different investment classes, they are an apples to oranges comparison. 

But because Detroit has bad reputation in the media, I believe many investors would avoid it and I may have lesser competition, in comparison with Cleveland. 

The most important thing is to just look for properties with good rental income potential in comparison to the purchase price.In addition to low maintenance costs, you can also minimize your entry costs with an investor friendly agent who has both expertise and access to extensive inventory, including information on properties on & off the market.

Looking at this comparison of Muncie and Richmond, they look fairly similar: https://www.census.gov/quickfa..Let me know if you are interested in chatting more.

So sometimes we see interesting problem where area with avg SF is $1.5 and condo is 500-900k ; but in lower class area where avg SF is $900k but condo is priced 500-700k, in this comparison condo is good investment at higher expensive neighborhood.

Admittedly, all of these depend on the start and stop dates of comparison and the more recent run in SPY does make many of these older charts look different but this is what I found for USRT vs SPY (which has outperformed USRT by 10.78 % in 2024 YTD)Is there a different investible way into REITs indices you recommend?

Aloha,Usually when testing they also sample outside the home, to determine "background" levels for comparison of quantity and species.

Considerations we've heard/read about are: distance to primary residence, location of the property in comparison to the primary residence (ie, if we live by the beach and we buy a property by the beach, it's likely not our vacation or second home, whereas living inland and buying in downtown or by the beach could be a more likely second or vacation home), and minimum timeframes for owner occupancy (like 14 nights if we eventually choose to do STRs there).We live inland and if this does allow us to buy at a higher price point, we're open to looking in more tourist-y areas of the city.

What are the comparisons for cost and how long will each last?