Doing something more speculative like this much harder to pull off.

This is fact, not speculation.

Carlos certain parts of California and New York for example are appreciation driven.Meaning some wealthy people care little about the cash flow but rising annual rents and appreciation on the back end and to cut their taxes with depreciation.In those speculative markets you might not even find anything close to the 50% rule.

Give them a firm net cap of about 15% for cash flow and speculation on appreciation.

I'm a newbie to RE and found this forum when trying to evaluate a speculative investment.

That depends, every investor has different goals and strategies, but for many, yes, cash flow is the main reason to buy and hold, appreciation is simply speculation and in Tx, it usually goes slowly.Second, are you in business or charity?

On face this seems much more driven by price appreciation, and is thus more speculative than a cash flow property.

No need to speculate as to why she is selling.

For investment properties I think you should qualify but flips they might consider it more speculative if you have not done it before.

I am excited to begin my real estate investing career after 3 years of speculating (I'm sure i am not the only one).