For me personally - I work offshore in the oilfield around half of the year 24/7 on-call (I am straight-up not available for weeks out of the year)- I thought about self managing over and over - there is no great/predictable way to do it (especially starting out).

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.  

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”. 

I’d go with the short term for cash flow purposes right now now and take the gamble that rates will not increase that rapidly.

House prices are flat in general since 2015, there was a net negative migration (or close if i remember correctly) in 2020, and the key driver of the economy is in roughly the same place as North American automobile manufacturing was in the last 25 years, long term decline in jobs, reduced wages, and substitution from cheaper offshore options.If you subscribe to a deep contrarian approach, go for it, maybe we are at the worst and it can only get better.

Real State is better than gambling for sure!