I see these deals come across from time to time, they get snatched up by a cash buyer who likes to gamble.

A gamble, given it was a guess the house would appraise for what we expected.When we originally discussed this with our agent and mentor, these are the numbers we presented.

(Kind of a gamble in case it took months)

The parcel was super cheap and I bought it on a gamble without much due diligence.

So this is a calculated gamble, if you think the market is going to continue to grow over the next 3 years, then even if you cashflow 0, the appreciation would be tremendous. 

Jeff My 3 most important items are:1) Report damage w pics2) Replenish / refill supplies for guests3) Let my offshore VAs know if any supplies are lowCompetent cleaners can handle the rest!

A casino doesn't gamble, the individual player is gambling but the House isn't gambling. 

When we off shored this job we reduced our cost for this work by 90 percent as we no longer needed someone full time in the office.Key to staying in business... dont pay more for things than you have to.

Even if you get some recommendations, you will need to gamble so much capital on a speculative investment.

If so (and that's a gamble, of course), how many years would it take for you to recover the lost equity and additional expenditure?