It's pretty hard to 赶上Detroit, unless the investor has

no sense of economic geography at all. The best markets (Manhattan or DC) are only 10 hours drive from the worst markets (Flint, Michigan or Detroit). They are night and days. No comparison can be made. If an investor has no sense of such economic difference between these locations, and waste money on places like Detroit, then he cannot blame that "RE investment is risky". He has only himself to blame for lack of knowledge.