The lower cost areas tend to be that way for a reason - many have stagnant or negative population and job growth over the past few decades, so people are gradually moving away and average wages are relatively stagnant.I'd encourage you to narrow it down to specific markets in both states for more detailed comparison.

------"In the event that there is a significant price increase in these construction materials in excess of 25% from the average of similar materials purchased by Builder in the proceeding 30-day period from the execution of this Contract, the excess charges will be passed through to Purchaser......Builder will attempt to keep the purchaser informed of any cost variances."

If I were you’d I’d download something dealmachine or something similar and start driving for dollars and coldcalling.  

MoCo as a whole is really expensive, so 300K, while It might be average for a starter home in the US doesn't get you started here. 

I do believe rent growth on average in Phoenix Arizona at present is well around 21.6%.

That's below median and well below average, so there are a lot of financed deals there.What I see and hear: Cover an appraisal gap up to a certain amount to give the sellers peace of mine. 

Basically it was a binder with printouts from rentometer.com showing the average rents in the immediate area.

From the traction on the BiggerPockets Facebook post, it looks like this content is getting an above average amount of exposure for the podcast. 

I am trying to buy a property in a market where the average home price is in the 300-400 k range.

The average rent between all 16 homes is $527.00/mo.