The idea is to have some cheaper properties that are cash flowing and some purely for flipping. 

For a pure rental property you can depreciate the the purchase price of the house minus the value of the land divided by 27.5.

I would consider it if it were a friend who is known to be a responsible payer (I would probably want to surround myself with these type of people anyway), but only if there's a lease contract and they understand upfront that any decisions made are purely business.

@Joy Omenyi CoMo REI is a good place to meet people.

When other properties are vacant they will still rent and the quality of tenants make them a joy to manage compared many other properties. 

Finding good tenants is also difficult, but sometimes it's just pure luck in who you get, especially in Detroit.

You could probably name comparably appreciated markets on one hand.We take a holistic approach though as you can see, so pure appreciation is not everything.Also, comparing Apples to Apples (California to Oklahoma in your data) its 476% to 424%.  

@Joy Williams thanks for the info.

Last summer was just pure bad luck. 

@Brian CaseSeveral years ago, another Brian was trying use non-recourse loans with investors, things have not changed in this regard and it can be pure trouble!