The tenant has a scratch-off lottery ticket gambling problem and often comes home with "many"  tickets in his pockets.

I suppose you could gamble and hope that your operating expenses are lower than 40%. 

It really depends on how desperate you are to sell quickly- you can definitely save money, but it’s a bit of a gamble.

It seems like a gamble purchasing from just viewing the outside.

Real Estate is where it's at.Stocks are basically gambling because you have no control over them.At least in Las Vegas they give you a buffet and free drinks.

Now I know this is a huge huge gamble, and it is a negative investment initially but I am bound to my clients here in SD for at least the next 3-5 years and doing the math if I continue to rent at SD prices, I can see clearly how I am not paving the path to any kind of financial freedom and I am not taking advantage of San Diego's tremendous appreciating market. 

We are often paid to be more conservative, than gamble away our clients wealth on any big bet. 

Just as you should only gamble with money you are willing to lose, you should be only be investing with money over and above your savings.  

I'm not talking about those post on here where the first time investor is posting about getting 50 doors in 90 days, almost always they will not tell you those doors are producing a net income of $30 a month, that's not an investment, that's a gamble where the "investor" is hoping for a favorable scenario when the Debt gets restructured at the end of the 7, or 10 year term, and then hoping the rent increase projections happened, hoping the vacancy turnover projections they forgot to account for don't come to fruition (you'll be amazed at how many people will have a 5% vacancy reserve, but they forget about the Unit turnover cost), Some get lucky swinging for the fences out the gate, many do not.  

Especially considering your alternative choice, go blindly invest in the stock market and hope it appreciates... but betting on "appreciation" is a gamble and "hope" is not a strategy.Collin