It's a gamble, but it is what it is.

Long story, her husband thought real estate investing is gambling and speculation, so they always lived in a SFH.

Gambling on appreciation is just that, gambling. 

@Eric Carr I think it's the property holding pattern while gambling on the hopes of that long-term equity growth is the problem for many people. 

this is why I personally am bullish on Vegas.. at least the newer areas of Summerlin or Henderson.. homes that were built in the 90s or 2000s  Stucco  tile roofs desert landscape.. with A class tenants  no income tax and  property tax's subsidized by gambling. property tax's are by far teh lowest I have ever seen in the US for investors..

Nicely done.it the thought process that we see on BP   IE   Cash flow is everything and appreciation is gambling and i don't care if I ever get appreciation as long as I get some cash flow. 

Finding any strategy to deal with increased interest rates, other than paying less money for properties, is in essence a gamble that interest rates will soon come down.

But I view those as a losing gamble.

Judah, i would rather go with the numbers, if you do them right you know it will work, taking a gamble on how you feel about a property is very risky, you could loose a lot if your not careful. i do agree with @Marvin McTaw, there may be other ways to unlock the value of a property if your gut got you to buy the place and its not quite working out the way you first thought. if you know that an area is up and coming and could raise the value then that would be going with your gut feeling and hopefully it works out, but again i feel the numbers and research of an area before you buy is the way to go.

These will all be walking distance from the property.My hope would be that the chance for appreciation would be enough to make the lower numbers make sense, especially seeing how property values have risen in the surrounding neighborhoods where the walking path is already completed.My question is, is it worth the gamble to solely rely on future appreciation to make the deal make sense?