One of the biggest cons is that 55+ communities often have very high HOA’s that cover a variety of services which makes them usually less profitable than comparable properties that are not 55+.

I"m amazed that has worked but keeping control of the money is a sound business practice for a variety of reasons.

There are too many varieties to be relaying on advice from people who haven't seen it and it's not their area of expertise.

Like you, I found my investments off-market through a variety of methods.

It seems that your association property manager is lacking.Normally what a CAM (community association manager) does (and there is some variety to di depending on the agreed role) is run the day to day affairs for the board while the board makes decision on reserves and budgets, choosing a vendor after getting several bids, etc... 

No question a sub 2 failure opens a big can of worms and can lead to all sorts of issues of the legal variety.. you start missing payments and your sellers credit gets trashed you are going to have issues. 

Most areas of Denver will attract a variety of tenants and you may think you'll get a family, but you could get a young professional without kids.

There are a variety of formulas you can use, but to me, here's the bottom line from a legal perspective: as long as the utility cost sharing provision is not unconscionable, and the tenants agreed to it, they are responsible to pay their share of utility bills. 

2) How important is it to have a variety of colors throughout the home?

I would look for states that are landlord-friendly and cities with a wide variety of employment sectors, growing cities/states as well.