A regular camera will monitor more of an area, but it is nice to have the doorbell version so if the house is empty and someone rings the doorbell, you are notified and can talk to them through it. 

Hey BP fam, 
I have a property that desperately needs a way out,
The property has been on the market for a little bit, sellers just recently bought the property so they don’t have much equity. immediately I thought,...

Nice to hear you were able to find solutions to make the best of the situation.

It was an ideal solution to support the long-term vision for transforming this parcel into a thriving residential community.

Or maybe you have other solutions for this?

There are much simpler solutions that wont cost you 18K. 

Our firm Winthco Wealth Management works very closely with Inland securities and can provide a strategic solution to replace the debt (boot) with property in a DST which in turn will allow you to have more real estate investment exposure while reducing your overall fees. 

Has anyone had a different experience with HOAs or has any solution to getting around this?

You can leave your vendors off but starting with the issues/solutions you have gathered would be quite valuable 

If those are possible I think it is a viable solution.