Many people are very accustomed to roaches.As you said, they can be gotten rid of if you have clean tenants and a regular pest control program.

I wanted to find out if the property is under rent control or any type of restrictions.

The company subs out the larger jobs, and we have very little control over how much a plumber costs, etc.

And, you do lose control of some of your expenses.  

Technically this has been out of his control and it looks like he is working to get it fixed.

I could install a WiFi system and lock the control box, so only I can control it from my phone (so that tenants will have no choice but to water the lawn) but I could see tenants getting upset due to high water bills.This is solely about mitigating foundation issues for me, not about keeping a nice looking lawn.

One of the reason I became a GC is to be able to control risk.

I didn't try using it that way, but the device does allow for that.

An engineer's mind may need higher control over investment :))) let's check on the scenario of independent investing: with 40K down and conventional mortgage you could get a decent quality old duplex in the good location of Midwest. 

HOA in theory can remove free rider market failure if well managed, when there are costs and/or needs for management shared by all.HOA kind of philosophically touches on the oft debated (and oft oversimplified) ideological debate between centralization or decentralization of authorityMy thesis would be: I suspect that HOA developments have higher property values in general, however when controlled for development budget on a per home basis, I would wonder if this actually holds up over time.I have heard anecdotal stories of corruption within HOA bodies, and mismanagement.