I realized that if I would have been able to self-manage the property, my estimated CoC (theoretically) could have gone from 8% to 11.5%--a pretty handsome increase.  

I looked at the market every day for over a year before I bought my first, but I knew damn well what it was worth when I pulled the trigger and made a handsome profit when I sold a few years later (even after losing money due to mistakes).

Midwestern cities seem to be patchy.. go a few blocks in any direction and you could be in trouble, so important to experience the area first hand. Some

@Brandon Carlson relatively painless with an architect involved but, you will pay handsomely for the service. 

If the company is Kenny, I can tell you they pay a handsome per diem. 

We rented for 2 years and then finally sold to make a handsome profit in return.

One one hand they help keep the community looking good and within standards, on the other hand, some of the rules and restrictions can be quite absurd and over the top.It is always a good idea to look at the financials, bylaws and covenants and restrictions prior To purchasing. 

Not really nearly as speculative or hard to nail down the long term average appreciation rate as some make it out to be if there is a relatively steady long term trend to go off ... the key is that is the long term average, I agree that it is really difficult to nail down in the short term over the next year or two, and you have to make sure that you can make it to the long term, through the short term ups and downs, to see that long term average.On the other hand, some neighborhoods go down in value in value over time, so assuming 0% appreciation if the long term average is negative may actually be speculative IMO. 

Businesses like mine and attorneys get paid handsomely to fix the problems later.

I'm very familiar with the overall aloofness of large organizations as I was a member of the Manufactured Housing Institute for a few years and paid handsomely to attend their annual Las Vegas Convention only to realize that they cow towed to the big park community owners and didn't give a hoot about the little guys or the affiliate members who were some of their major membership contributors.