.- working for an income in the states isn’t a necessity as I would be running a business in Belgium from abroad.- Belgium is eligible for the 50K visa raffle (I’m feeling lucky)Am I being too optimistic and is investing hands on in the US as a foreigner a pipe dream?

Hi Juan- I'm not the expert on large complexes, I have 10 one bedroom apartments two of which are efficiency...while I'm a different neighborhood completely they earn very consistently but due to the more dynamic characteristics of single adults to pair up and paired adults to either have increased income trading up to larger units or creating children and moving up due to necessity- these are in a constant state of flux so require more attention.I prefer to rent to those on a fixed income with average expectations and a low interest in relocation. 

And glad to hear that we could take a necessity item and turn it into something interesting!  

Keeping the homes you consider, near major roadways is a curse, but almost a necessity for someone needing to traveling to get to work.  

IMO, a generator is not a necessity but a luxury, a home is a necessity or at least a place to live.

But that is not representative of necessity and can be easily mitigated by going with a TK company that is NOT the PM company, as I have done.  

Out of fast necessities; really.

It has been my personal experience that the car sales industry has more unethical practices happening than the Real Estate industry- but it's a fair comparison.To answer your question as to why there are so many bad/unethical Real Estate agents (and car salesman): it's because it is a complicated, litigious industry with a very low bar of entry and high necessity to close transactions.  

Now I have no idea what the cost would be, work involved or the necessity of doing it.

You (and he) both should have received certain rights for maintenance of "common" systems or those that by necessity exist across the "lot line".