I do find it odd that you are restricted on a primary residence.

HOAs can also put restrictions on rentals such as the percent of rentals vs. owner occupied.  

@Vicki RolufsNever heard of him but I always recommend to check with nmls consumer access and check if they are licensed.

I am one but my firm doesnt have mls. i want to learn how it works in nyc and need api access to put it into my crm

One they fought hard and took it to the state AG for privacy, which should have no pricy restrictions on it anyway. 

I'm also not interested in condos/townhouses as I owned one previously locally, and it really restricted what I could do. 

If you owe 550k in that example, then you would potentially have access to the 200k up a 750k loan on a  1 mm dollar property.

Nobody in the world has a sewage meter, it's based on the water use since all water used has to go down a drain eventually.In order to install a meter you need to access the line feeding the unit.

I have more than enough net worth and global cashflow to cover a gap, however because most of my net worth is in collateralized real estate, I cannot directly access by say cashout refinance. 

One route is to explore refinancing these properties into your name with a cash-out refinance, which would allow you to access some of the equity while officially transferring the deeds.