Sometimes when placing an offer --  the POS is not yet available - and when you place an offer you can make your offer contingent upon approval of these items... although in order to have a competitive offer in this seller's market you are basically forced to "assume" the pos violations once they become available (usually 2-3 weeks after it's been ordered) -- you should be able to tell if anything more serious might come up on the POS via your own personal inspection. 

I assume most people know and then you see newbies fall right into their trap.

You can do a subject to transaction but that is not legally assuming the loan.the banks got rid of assumable mortgage long time ago. 

I assume most of the $550k equity came via appreciation.  

Assuming that is an additional charge?

I was all in (lot + construction costs) for $238k and had assumed $1,850 in rent.

You haven't provided enough information on that to allow specific advice.If you purchased the property in 2020 you should still be at a good interest rate (assuming a 5 year balloon ARM).

The way it works out, for 2025 if your taxable income plus any long-term capital gains amounts total up to less than $126,700 (assuming married filing jointly standard deduction of $30,000 plus the 0% LTCG tax bracket of $96,700) right now the capital gains tax rate is 0%.

If you are assuming the property, you are actually putting the mortgage in your name, and you would need to qualify for the mortgage with the lender.

To avoid going through the same poor experience, keep reading.Even if someone gives you a referral here, do NOT make the mistake of assuming that the PMC will meet your expectations, just because they met the expectations of the referral source.In our experience, the #1 mistake owners make when selecting a Property Management Company (PMC) is ASSUMING instead of CONFIRMING.It's often a case of not doing enough research, as they don't know what they don't know!