What it found is that a certain type of real estate (unleveraged residential properties) outperformed everything else on a risk-adjusted basis in both the historic and modern eras.

I'll add in one other idea:  at my retail gig, one of my contractor customers was modernizing a large apartment complex (>300 units).  

Hello all, I'm looking for some recommendations for new construction builders in Tampa, Florida. Does anyone have any recommendation and anyone I should stay away from? 

The tenant’s unit is supposedly modern no-frills rental trim.

Even if you don't invest in Birmingham, these numbers can serve as a good benchmark for what you should expect.

Also what is a good bench mark as far as profit from the sale.

I realize this question is incredibly vague and depends on a whole plethora of factors…In general, what benchmark or criteria did you use to feel financially “comfortable” investing in real estate?

Is there a commonly used benchmark or an optimum setup?

So I would go and look at recently sold properties and see where that benchmark is.

You can get short term cash flow in a lot of markets but if you're looking for long term income and equity, then you should be looking at markets with growing populations, growing jobs, good income and modern/diverse economies and industries.