You can speculate on future prices, but that is what gets you killed during a market down turn.This leaves a max land purchase price of roughly $45,000 which we were able to achieve. 

In addition, I'm going to bet you'd get around assessed property taxes that you wouldn't with a normal storage, though that's just speculation on my part.

I would be less willing to cash in the blue chip investments in my retirement portfolio to speculate for short term cash flow.  

You guys can speculate to your heart's content, however a secured lender is not going to removing anybody's name from a mortgage, trust deed or other security instrument.Interlocutories and dissolution orders have the power to separate, bifurcate, liquidate and bifurcate assets but not dictate that a federally insured loan will not remove a debtor's name from a DOT or mortgage. 

That does not mean that you necessarily need to be a speculative gambler to invest in these markets, though ... a few pointers:1)Timing for buy-and-hold is very important in these markets.

You won't likely get high cash flow day 1 from CA, but boy the capital gains and rent growth sure are nice ... and if you do it right then those gains are NOT based on speculation that the market will shoot up like a rocket forever.

I have to speculate a bit, but I think It comes down to relationships and track record. 

We're buying for decent cash flow now and speculating on appreciation in the future.

I am thankful that Bigger Pockets hammers the point about the calculations and that some of the guests on the podcasts talk about the difference between investing and speculation.

So far, that bet has been rewarded, especially on the land speculation side.