Real estate purchasing is speculative, no one is selling a property that earns 10%+ CoC as is.

I did not see the inside so some speculation on exact finishes.

I see margins getting thinner in Los Angeles and good deals hard to come by as I see that investors are either over speculating or willing to work for less in order to keep the ball rolling.

Reno could be a great market currently for the speculative investing.

If you are a short term holder, then I guess you can take some calculated risks if some of the systems are new, but this involves a lot more speculation on many factors than I'm willing to make at this point in my real estate career.What I do for my 2 properties is that I am slowly building up a reserve (approx 10% of rent, depending on the situation) to handle CAPEX.

Instead of speculating, find him and figure out.

Also capital gains are speculative while rental income isn't.

Appreciation is always speculation (unless you are determining your past ROI) and the tax benefits are awesome but not specific numbers I know how to put in a formula. 

All you have so far is speculation .

This is speculation, but I see insurance lawyers using this is an immediate out to not cover any claims or lawsuits.Either get your license (it's not hard in CO) or don't take the risk.