The income route, to me, still gambles that the rent will increase as fast or faster than expenses. 

Like everyone mentioned, betting strictly on appreciation is a gamble. 

. $3000 to $10000 houses are probably in the part that never will, but maybe it will it's a gamble. 

I’m especially curious because a few rentals were picked up by investors in my area at well over 25% above last year’s comps and I can’t help but wonder if they’re gambling on near term rent increases....or if they’ve just overlevered their way into non performing assets because of fomo.  

I think taking the risk and riding the AirBnB wave it's hot is probably worth the gamble..

You are literally losing out on thousands of dollars of income annually by gambling on appreciation.

I thought it was an extreme gamble, and that he could lose everything.

I kinda gave up on the idea until I read your post and it ignited my goal again. 

This in itself should bring the value of the property from $5,600,000 to $7,200,000 (and this is considering a more conservative exit cap rate of 100 bp above the enter one), so at the end of the day the increased value would make the investment IRR in the 15-20%.I have a considerable amount of my portfolio in the stock market and believe me, no 2.5% dividend yield stock is going to deliver that performance over the next few years, especially considering the current inflated P/E ratios in the market, unless we gamble on ridiculous appreciation, so I fail to see how your comparison is fair.

Home warranties are basically gambling that you will at some point you will collect on it and hopefully it will cover the repairs without costing you too much.