For example, Bakersfield has close proximity to 90% of CA population. 

I would say the midwest and SE markets that have good population and job growth will have the best of both.  

@Coco Cook The appreciation has been great since our job and population growth has been increasing.

The official eviction number currently stands at a high 9,000 per year for a population of 1 million.

HOWEVER, I have seen it where towns with 20k houses reversed and suddenly jumped to $60k over 5 to 10 years with no population growth. 

MSA population of 5M.I like Phoenix for many other reasons, but this is the macro. 

This info will give you a decent idea of what to expect and help filter down your search to a few cities.Metrics that I find valuable to understand are populations total, home values, household income, poverty rate, unemployment, rate and educational attainment.

Population an job growth? 

Zillow and Realtor .com plus there is a whole bunch of other websites.Then look at unemployment rate and population +/-.

People who don't want to take the time to manage a property.The population at large is much more likely to meet criteria 3 and 4 than the sample population on here.