In my opinion, you are gambling, with your Financial Future and Well Being as well as everything you have worked, to create.

Belief is the ignition switch that gets you off the launching pad.

Surely, any investment must fit one's plan, and risks can be logically evaluated, but a certain profit cannot be accurately calculated..it's always a gamble in real estate.

You could look in the 44105 zip code, but it's still a gamble.

I like the gamble because it's hard to imagine rates not dropping over the next few years, at which point we'll see 5 million qualified home buyers per point, driving up demand and prices while you're able to reduce your carrying cost. 

Rate buy downs are a band aid like you claim. they are sold with the idea that rates will be lower in the future when your buydown expires and you will be able to refinance it into a fixed rate. that has been the major push since rates began spiking. its gambling on the future interest rates being lower, therefore, it allows a larger pool of homebuyers to be able to afford higher prices with temporary lower interest rates, so logically home prices wont budge much, still enough to be down in most markets based on the aforementioned article, and by even your own market, real estate has not beaten inflation the last 12 months. 

If you have a lot of cash (millions and millions), you can sometimes gamble by just buying and holding forever.

I'm sure there are 1-off examples of success, but that's not the norm.And this isn't to shoot down North Lawndale - there are opportunities to invest in the current market/conditions, but to expect gentrification is a huge gamble.

Hence, you're asking for gambling advice from someone on the internet. 

If you intend to pay it off soon and retain the property then it's a gamble if you should have it or not.