So on the one hand, betting only on appreciation is a gamble (and that's why I mentioned that you need to determine whether you can survive a market downturn) but on the other hand, you can use market and economic trends to get a certain "feeling" of where the market will be in the future.

First, I want to apologize to you and @Kevin Sobilo for this delayed response, I just found your replies in my spam folder.

It’s the government’s right to take private property for a public purpose, like widening the street, or building the Barclays center 😀.It’s a gamble to decide if the city will actually decide to use the land.They usually provide a “fair market value” and it’s inevitable with time that the property will get acquired.

You would be gambling that rents and home prices will go up enough to make this a good deal. 

If you’re putting in offers without running your numbers you’re gambling.

dont you love appreciation ( oh wait on BP its gambling and who in their right mind would invest for that :)  )

The people that are going to get crushed are people that buy assets that have negative cash flow and are speculating/gambling on appreciation.

A lot of forums or websites will delete your posting as spam.

That is speculation and gambling. 

Basing everything on appreciation is speculation ie gambling.