$650k won't go very far for a multifamily.Most multis in MoCo are in Takoma Park which has extremely restrictive rent control.

HOA can be too restrictive and can change the ruled on you and add even more fees.I would steer clear of HOA properties.

Answer they don't.I don't like the Odds

As a DIY’r odds are you will be a victim of fraud.  

The funding situation seems somewhat odd to me, but I don't know how it works normally either.

Perhaps a family member, who owns real estate can partner with you to get around the first time buyer restrictions with DSCR lenders.

This immediately struck me as odd as I wasn't aware of any form of compensation to the PM for any maintenance related activities, just 8% of gross rent and 1-month of rent to lease the property, per our contract.Naturally I wanted to understand the nature of this arrangement, specifically how much mark-up is being charged, so I referenced a specific sewer repair bill from 2015 that was $2,600 and asked him if he could provide the vendor invoice so I could understand how much the vendor charged and how much revenue the PM recognized.  

Common locations for supply lines to fail are where male threaded galvanized pipe is threaded into brass or copper valve and fitting bodies  (due to galvanic corrosion)  and hot water lines will rust up so badly as to start restricting water flow or begin leaking a decade or two before the cold side fails similarly.   

I got into notes in an odd way.

But when we began to ask questions and explore the site, something seemed odd.