Pick a great community and buy the worst house and BRRRR.  

If it were me, I would pick investing in Texas if I were living there over investing OOS in some random city.

If the #s check out via savings or heloc, you can pick up another rental income property in a Medium Cost of Living City vs NYC.

Investors can say their HOA has various rules, but your sample size is going to be much too small to be meaningful.Instead, I recommend picking some listings you are interested in and researching the HOA rules and fees yourself.

So you think Agents have a poor standing in Society today  .. like used care salesmen or how people pick on Lawyers etc etc..

She's picking pretty expensive places to live though so not as appealing as your deal! 

Over the years I picked business degrees, real estate license, tax preparation training, loan officer licensing and training, investment / CFP training and it is all tied together in one big connected body of knowledge that emphasizes appreciation, debt pay down, cash flow, and tax write-offs...  

Once we adjusted pricing, activity picked up significantly.

You can call (they will never pick up. ever.)

In 2010 I picked up a triplex in my Roth IRA for $170K, all cash.