You would be hard pressed to find properties in the 60 sq ft range which  are in your own backyard There is nothing like mining your own neighborhood and investing for both cash flow and appreciation Study you local market and I be you will find both types of properties that would be much less of a gamble then venturing into the unknown 

(you are still gambling on appreciation, but the odds are good the rents are rock solid)If it is in National city, chula vista, vista, oceanside, etc..

The guy with a gambling problem can discharge.

If you've got the house a crazy good price, this may make sense for a flip, but it is definitely a gamble. 

It is still an extremely good bet odds-wise, but I don't gamble, and $1M would make a very big impact in my life.  

Detroit is a ghost town because of off-shoring not tax hikes.

Are you comfortable gambling and losing $15,000?

If you have the means to not insure a 50k property that has a loss one time for 10-15k of damages, and are comfortable eating those costs for repairs, then hey, that's the risk you are willing to gamble on, and if you are comfortable with that, then that's fine.

If you like to gamble you could start trading options. 

Do you WANT to gamble?...