However your local offshore bank may well be able to offer you mortgage facilities against this property or another that you may own in your home country if you are expatriate in Asia.Some developers offer up too 50% finance package.

Both domestic and offshore investors recognize this, and a lot of them have industrial at the top of their shopping list.

@Bonnie Rhodes I started investing in lemonade stands when I was 9.Then I flipped marijuana in Middle School and ran illegal gambling in the high school bathrooms.

However, if you want to stay in SFR's I would suggest working with someone who can locate deep discounted properties and give you some equity going in so you are not gambling on appreciation kicking in.  

If this property is really owned by somebody addicted to gambling then there is likely deferred maintenance. 

And in any case, is appreciation not just risk with no control (i.e. gambling)?

It's a gamble but it may be the only way to escape without a major loss.

For one or two, its a gamble where the absolute savings is not worth the risk.

I never thought about appreciation as gambling but it makes sense.

OR I would learn a skill-based facet of gambling (poker, blackjack, for example) and see if I could multiply it that way.