You can somewhat 'play' with that scenario by upping your appreciation input, but to me that is gambling if you push it too high. 

I currently have about 100k equity there.2016 capital gains income: 02016 business / gambling income: 25k2017 capital gains income: 152k2017 business / gambling income: 28kChecking account balance: 100k+Credit score: 730Investment property price range 165k - 200k.I can get letter from CPA stating I've been in the same business since 2010.I'm being told they will take either last three years of capital gains or last two years of gambling. 

I have already immersed myself in webinars, books and various forums.

With smaller towns there is always that gamble. 

In January of 2016 I worked with my son to purchase a home in the Corktown area of Detroit, MI – he is now living for free with his renters while making updates to the home.Little did I know, until recently having jumped back onto BP, that we basically set him up for his “house hack,” a term, of course, I learned after rejoining this community and immersing myself into the podcasts during my commute to and from the 9 to 5.

Many say that buying for appreciation is simply gambling.

Unless the property appreciates significantly beyond the average 2-3% which is a gamble something like this does not seem to be a great value.ThanksPesi

I am strictly buy and hold; anything I buy today has to be really appealing-not going to gamble on any dogs or overpriced queens at this stage of the market-and certainly not counting on any appreciation for the next while.

You can call some insurance companies to get actual quotes at any time, so a few phones calls can tell you if he is over paying. you also don't want to go completely cash poor to buy a deal, that's a tough gamble.

The local advantage.I think Denver is more of a gamble, banking on appreciating.