I think I have got enough knowledge and capital to buy my first SFH or duplex rental property, but my wife thinks buying rental properties is gambling.

That is exactly what I see, buying condos from a wholeseller seems like a real gamble.

Investors Wanted To Believe though.....I saw people pay $50k Over the HOA judgments on that gamble......a nice surprise for the homeowner who hadn’t paid his mtg for 6 years......not so good for the buyers.

Pikes Peak really focuses on El Paso County, but lines can often get blurred around the borders.

Otherwise you will be gambling. 

For me anyone with a fico below 560 is probably a life long deadbeat, and anyone with no credit file, probably is also a dead beat, but they could have no credit for many reasons other than their lack of credit worthiness, so I assign 25 gamble points to the no credit renter and treat them as equivalent to a 585 fico.

That said, in many circumstances it might help. it's a gamble at best imoI also assume this is for a retail primary home, if it's for an investment house then I really hate this idea.

You have a lot of Illinois people moving across the border, because of the high taxes.

Normally I'd be the first to say that, even with problems that border the line of being within the bounds of your lease agreement, you should look at having to make repairs or improvements as opportunities to create a good name for yourself.

I see you're just over the border.