It's fairly common something has to give in this, we don't usually get all 3 to be ideal.

Unlike some people, I believe HOA is good costodian often finances, get volume discounts, do the effort of hiring contractors and maintain common space so in that regard I consider them a value. 

It's pretty common to find 2x more rental units available than homes for sale.   

Is 20 year ground contact lumber common?

Common fees will include a set-up fee, a leasing fee for each turnover or a lease renewal fee, marking up maintenance, retaining late fees, and more.

I would mitigate through trial and error and as much common sense as possible. 

This is actually the more common situation, in my experience.After signing but before the deed was recorded, the seller got scared that the buyer was a fraud, was not going to pay the mortgage and was simply going to rip the rents (as @Jay Hinrichs likes to say) and torpedoed his own deal by alerting the lender of the transfer!

@Femi Ibrahim unfortunately stories like yours will only get more common in the next couple years.

A common serious issue would be no heat in winter time.

Your story of "bad" financials that banks laugh at is all too common.