For example, Fundrise was happy to spam me numerous times about how incredible their due diligence is and how many investments they reject.

You could buy in the path of progress, but you have to know where that is, and it's still a bit of a gamble that the particular street you buy on will have gentrified enough by the time you move here.  

If a property doesn't cash flow then really you're just gambling that it will go up.Here in KWC I focus on the $300-$500k price range because they're pretty homes and easy to sell.

What the underwriter is going to be thinking if the account she is looking at constantly dips below/above the cash to close + reserves number: "Oh, so he's gambling with his home buying money.

And the chances of that happening may be low, but you still have to be cognizant that it is a gamble.

Unless you were here in the crash, none of the cashflow numbers make sense, and buying for an appreciation play is a crapshoot - if you're going to gamble, roulette is a lot more fun.

You can make money in four ways:Cash FlowAppreciation (gambling)AmortizationTax ShelterIf you are holding this for the long term and it's in a good consolidated area, you  should be ok.

I am positive they are spam ads but keep popping up everyday from the same email addresses.

Sure, if you can easily afford to gamble on continued regular appreciation and/or improved rental income, then you might get away with it.But in principle, unless it still shows SOME positive cash flow even when leveraged at 75%, my advice would be: look elsewhere!

For me that would mean that the property would need to cash flow as a long term rental with a reasonable down payment as plan B and/or had a value add play to get a quick forced appreciation equity bump to sell at profit or cushion against a drop in prices as plan C ... and last I checked, this didn't seem to be easy to pull off in Big Bear (or nearly anywhere else in SoCal) at the moment ... doesn't mean it can't be done, just means it takes more skill, discipline, and hard work to get it done today with this safety cushion rather than forcing a deal which can quickly degenerate into gambling.