If you want to negotiate prior to contract, most builders are going to do everything in their power to avoid dropping the price...this could mean paying closing costs, pre-paying HOA dues, buying down your rate, giving options/upgrades at no cost, etc...basically anything that is going to allow them to keep the recorded price elevated.Even in down markets we are still trying to show price INCREASES phase over phase, even if that means giving away more in concessions on a case-by-case basis to get deals done.

You should really only have the taxes, insurance, HOA, and any other expenses that the PM is not responsible for.

know your HOA and make sure they are favorable toward STR.

No Hoa.

I'm not sure where that leaves the HOA in regards to needing each unit's contribution to fix the property?  

HOA $1120 a mo.OPEX $31k, NOI $82k, CAP rate 25%. 

It is not part of an HOA.

Luckily it is fee simple and I would need to read up on the HOA by-laws.

read your HOA documents, typically this would be the responsibility of the association as the meters are common area elements, but without seeing those docs everyone would be guessing.

After doing this twice the HOA management will probably send you a “warning” letter.