It could appreciate but I consider that gambling.

Waiting for appreciation that might not come the way you want is a big gamble. 

@Jimmy Woodard the city is built on tourism and gambling revenue.

Now the problem with online bidding is similar to gambling slot machines; there is an algorithm that balances the win/lose ratio (or so we think). 

For three (and this part is the biggest gamble), I believe SD's future real estate market will continue to perform as it has for the past few decades. 

I'm good with leverage...I'm not Dave Ramsey...but HELOCs for investment properties...that's gambling...and the way Las Vegas builds new luxury hotels....unless you plan for it to be quick bridge money or you plan to pay off property in 6-12 months or something like that where 30year fixed financing would not make sense.

I was not a fan of the large tax break as I felt it was way too large, kind of a gamble, and how much more effective that money could have been if invested locally.  

If “cleaning the igniter” fixed it, the door being open didn’t cause it to be dirty.If they were called out 2nd time for “no heat” that wasn’t caused by the garbage cans being near the pvc exhaust (there is zero chance they blocked them but you might want to have them altered so they can’t be blocked.)These are both on the landlord and so is the third time when it fails again as neither of these “fixes” fixed anything.

For a purchase price of <40k this seems like a decent gamble to me, however I wanted to solicit some feedback from anyone who's tried it, or is doing it presently. 

I am in my early twenties…little family responsibilities (yet)….relatively low net worth (compared to some of the guys in this thread lol) and I can certainly afford to take more risk …and “chase higher returns”BUT with that being said….regarding my willingness to “roll the dice”…..since we are talking gambling….I like to look at it a little differently in that I’m placing an asymmetric “bet”.