But stocks are gambling for most (unless you have insider information or disciplined monthly investing on the index over a long time).

Failing health, gambling debt, legal troubles, divorce, etc.  

Most ESA claims are unnecessary (aka: fraudulent).

You go through fraudulent conveyance grounds, which is a different kind of lawsuit.To summarize; Land Trusts offer no more protection than a properly set up LLC, and you still have to use sane book keeping methods and stuff.

If it were closer and I was more desperate for a place to deploy capital I'd be more willing to take that gamble but it's pretty far from Denver, and too different from the rest of the Front Range market that I understand better and have more faith in.

Parties that fraudulently sign the affidavit may be subject to criminal or civil liability. http://www.homesteps.com/homesteps/homebuyer/firstlook.html

You can work from the top down or bottom up, same animal, but assuming you work off an ARV will be a gamble.

When you exit a market for a duration (in your case 3 years), you are taking a gamble that market does not get far worse for purchases.  

Meaning also do something to get enough money in your pocket to buy this cash, so that the purchase is not your last penny, or you're not gambling 100 percent of what you have on these deals because as you know sometimes they do not work out.Just my 2 cents.

Protecting yourself from potential scams or fraudulent lenders is essential in real estate investing.