It's a leap of faith; but, if you plan for it and take into account what you will need to keep you happy and healthy, it is the best thing in the world.  

An inspection may declare it healthy, but I use that term to calculate forward expenses.

You'll need to do your due diligence on the HOA to make sure it's healthy and allows rentals. 

Gathering the Decision Information You NeedBelow I did a basic comparison between Phoenix and Las Vegas.Some observations:Both cities appear to be healthy and growing.Phoenix property prices are likely be lower and appreciate more slowly than Las Vegas due to unlimited urban sprawl.

To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent peopleand the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest criticsand endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty;To find the best in others;To leave the world a bit better, whether bya healthy child, a garden patchor a redeemed social condition;To know even one life has breathedeasier because you have lived; This is to have succeeded.

I don't necessarily want to make real estate investing my fulltime career, but a very lucrative side hustle to my own business in holistic wellness and urban farming.In 2009, I WAS looking to make real estate investing my fulltime career, mostly as a wholesaler but I've since realized that I do not have a passion for that particular niche, but I do love the flexibility, cash flow, and wealth creation that building a healthy property portfolio provides.At any rate, I look forward to FINALLY engaging with people on the forums, learning, DOING, and sharing with others.

I think a person with a reasonably healthy psyche can be happy any number of places.

@Jared Smith the entire valley has been a great place to invest over the last several years and is continuing to rise in healthy appreciation and a popular USA city for people to move to take advantage of the many job opportunities and low property taxes our city has to offer!

People who were retired had saved their money and put everything into bonds and built a 30-year bond ladder that paid out healthy quarterly yields and lived well even though they had almost no financial education.

Debt is not a problem if your reserves are healthy enough.