You should trust yourself and not compromise your core beliefs in pursuit of success, whether it be a conscious decision or just a naïve one. 

Personally, I’d try to compromise with the HOA to pay less or just pay it.

I think if it were me as the client I'd ask for a trial date range for the agreement, i.e. one week, and just explain to the agent that you want a chance to see how you work together.A fair compromise, IMO, would be that you'd use the agent if you bought a home you saw with them, but the option would remain for you to leave with no strings attached at the end of the week.

What seems to be your obstacle next would be the location if you'd like to be in RI or MA which have very different metrics for returns and appreciation and that comes down to what you feel is valuable for you and what you can compromise.

Lots of compromises being discussed, but they have also been discussed for years.

Attempting a temporary repair on rotten wood could just lead to a more expensive repair later on as the rot spreads into the rest of the house, potentially compromising the framing causing structural issues. 

However, we had secure jobs lined up and had predetermined that our quality of life would not be compromised by moving.

You can't uphold what the law requires, therefore you can't hold the departing tenant fully accountable.Talk to your tenant and negotiate a compromise.

If not you may wish to work out a compromise.

You should hold out on getting a better class of tenant and do not compromise anything.