The options netted out in different ways for me but it all depends on how much effort each investor is willing to put into their new adventures!

How crazy will I be if I liquidated my $3k and maxed out $30k on credit card,and played this high risk gamble with my credit?

If you go to Harrah's in a state that only has that one gambling place then they set the payout machine rates in the low 80's.

After that realization, I decided to spend the next few years traveling, working as a deck hand on a luxury/adventure charter sailing yacht in South East Asia, a caretaker for a multi-millionaire's estate in South East Florida and lifeguard/host to (non-paying) guests during the summer months at my campsite next to the beach in Montauk, New York. 

That same freedom allows for positive as well as negative things (think internet gambling and the child porn and the malware and scammers).

I do the same with my stoke portfolio... you have your retirement funds that you put in stable long term thinking companies, then you "gamble" with the rest haha

Very rare opportunity indeed.And sure, some will come in here and poo-poo all over this idea once again, talking about how Stockton is a tertiary market, we're at the top of the market, the bubble is about to burst, and so on and so on...But remember, they said the same thing about Sacramento, too...If it were me, I would take the gamble on Downtown Stockton, develop some millennial bait with some cool lofts or something and maybe a few high tech features in the home, and ride this development wave out and watch the property values skyrocket.Or you could always just buy that turn-key property you've never seen in some far away state and hope you don't get screwed over by the developer like a reader of my weekly newsletter just did... but that wouldn't be very wise now would it?

They may have nice appreciation but that's a bit of a gamble.

Really excited about my latest real estate adventure.

It would be better to pay whatever it is for testing soil out of pocket before closing and lose the money if tanks leaking then to buy the house as a gamble and have to re-mediate afterwards.