Which leads me to my final point, but not numbered.If I was you, I'd sell this property and 1031 into a non-HOA property that is attractive to own and fits #3 profile-- 1.25 DSCR + healthy reserves.

Ed (owner) finally stated that it is because payments are processed the night/morning AFTER the date in which the tenant picks.

All of these are things that will give you an advantage when you finally are ready to invest.

Finally, as an aspiring/budding lender, I don't have as much access to mentors, but then again it's easier than rehabbing/flipping and probably easier than buying and holding and managing multifamily. 

It can be a daunting task when you are trying to run a business and I finally honored that I am spent!  

We do recommend making sure all your data is accurate before finalizing your report.  

Finally, my big concern was always defaults and income loss...if I have more than 6 defaults (which I am sure I will), or more importantly, I lose my income...I do not want to be stuck with a high-interest LOC (hence why I started with $5,500 and not 10k).

And as far as legal—an attorney becomes essential once you're ready to finalize terms with either an HML or private lender to make sure everything’s secure.Hope this helps!

Finally, what’s the rate of return for alternative investments? 

I went through this whole process recently of researching for Real Estate CPA and finally went with referral from friend that also invests in real estate.