If we ran it for a year and worst-case a renter who's unhappy with us attempting to raise/normalize rents reports the leaking roof, we could be stuck with MAJOR repairs that we can't yet afford, or who knows, a condemned building because there's mold in that roof/attic/walls that have been leaking.It's discouraging - we could walk away and take our $25k and go 20% down on a duplex that cash flows $300 a month, or we gamble on this place where the cash flow is approaching $1.5k per month after budgeting conservatively with the bigger pockets calculators. 

I live in the United States, but spend a good deal of time in the UK now.

It's quite a gamble.

It also makes a HUGE assumption that you can access this gained equity through refi at the same rate as when you started the loan (highly unlikely and as I stated, math is math and statistics are statistics so why gamble on an unknown factor!).

Your play here is gambling on appreciation hoping you make your money that way which is just that gambling. 

When i started i took a gamble on Williamsburg before it hit,it worked!

That is literally just gambling......I'd be very hesitant to want to have my money tied up in something that is so unregulated and that has so little control. 

Good evening All.I am 37 and from the UK. 

I have some experience with residential investment properties here in the UK but never held commercial RE. 

So we took a gamble, made the offer, the seller accepted since no one else had offered since they couldn't view the property.