Don't want to gamble $500 to just inspect a property.

It seems the cost of re-financing the mortgage is a gamble as to whether I could re-coop those costs by going this route.Has anyone been in a similar situation, or have any suggestions on how I could get started?

I want to impress upon real estate investors that there are no certainties only probabilities and to assess the probabilities you have to consider the macro as well as the micro...investing without probabilities is gambling.  

Austin is a bit more like gambling right now.

Seize the equity now, but is it better to get a cheaper invesment property to make a ****** $200 a month with loan paydown in a poor neighborhood, or purchase another property I can afford in an area that does not take big hits in the down turn, and appreciates well. essentially I am gambling on appreciation.I am getting paid 3k a month this year alone in appreciation, it wont always be that way.

I don't recommend buying only to sell in a few year though, that's taking a gamble.

But you are still gambling on the criminal aspect if you can't find a resource from their country.

Ive seen debates about whether to "gamble" with appreciation.  

Specifically I am immersing myself wither literature pertaining to buy and hold and am striving to avoid analysis paralysis by offering soon on a property I have had my eye on and jumping in to the the business of having tenants.   

As far as my experience with managing student housing I myself have recently stayed on a college dormitory for a semester to immerse myself into the culture and to see exactly what the needs of the students their parents and the universities are, and how I can scale my business to meet that demand.