It can also be an opportunity to discuss house rules and expectations to ensure you're on the same page.While being cost-conscious is understandable, investing a little upfront for proper screening can save you a lot of trouble in the long run.

Caretakers house moving along.  

Cities and states with the highest eviction rates:  https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/evictions-surging-rising...https://www.newamerica.org/future-land-housing/reports/displ....https://evictionlab.org/rankings/#/evictions?

Other risks, the contractor walking off the job, a storm hitting and delaying the project for weeks, someone breaking into the home and stealing stuff (which happened just the other day to a client of mine), a squatter, or drunk driver driving into the house (happened a lot at my old job as a firefighter lol).

We have 3 boys who are actively in sports and the location of the house just doesn't work out for us. 

This way they can't claim they have been in the house long enough to be domiciled - this is for squatters. 

In 20 years, those same houses that you own today will be paid off and worth double what they are now. 

. - 2 story house with very small rooms and and 2 steps down, imminently as you enter the front door.- Gated community and in a reasonable HOA. - The home is 2 payments behind and already got a letter from the lender about future foreclose.

There is one house listed in your community says $339 a month on HOA?

There isn't enough information in here about the current state of the house to be able to advise you, but I would think #3 is a definite no as it seems unnecessary from a cost perspective although that market has scale to accept it.