If you could BRRRR and time the interest rates well Otherwise, Buying a property that is negative cash flow without any forced appreciation or a clear short term upside(flip) might be described more as gambling then investing.  

but in my view it makes a relatively "safe" investment in cash flowing real estate into a gamble on appreciation.    

One learns very quickly and unfortunately usually the hard way that cash tenants are a huge gamble and that section 8 is the only way to find healthy, consistent, positive cash flow in Detroit and many of the other inner cities accross America.

Dunedin NZ from St Albans UK when we first bought. 19,068km

I hear what you're saying about the cost to make them habitable but I don't think that will be considered a gamble when you're looking backwards a few years from now. 

UK market is a great opportunity at the moment.

But these come rarely.Do you really want to gamble with your money time and effort on luck?

Don't know don't care.You are gambling with a lot of time and effort and if you are anything like me?

That's an $1800 gamble with this software.

Here is why:1) every month I'm paying down my debt using my cash flow and can pay extra towards my debt and still make more money vs waiting for future appreciation2) rents in my area have gone up for 80 years now3) my rental income is subsidized by HUD so your tenants over time will not pay consistently when they lose their Job, get disgruntled, have a bad day lol4) the rental income I get is 2x more per dollar invested therefore I more than compensate for higher appreciation but I have advantage of 1 to 3 aboveSummary my IRR is guaranteed you are gambling on both your tenant and local market.