My husband is on a fixed income retirement, pension and SS. 

I now need to find a lender that does loans to retirement plans.  

I pay my installers that per job, not per day, otherwise I get some idiot who will screw up the job or maybe steal something from your house,    then I have to cover workmen's comp, general liability and commercial auto insurance, put gas in the truck to get them to the job, pay taxes and hopefully put a little bit in my pocket for the trouble of which out of that I need to have something to put back when I retire and pay my health insurance

But I've also talked to people in the community who totally hate the look, including, households with young kids and those of retired couples.You probably don't want to be the only house with the drought tolerant plants or else you'll stick out like a sore thumb. 

We are recently retired, new to investing and belong to a local REI club.  

The contractor that built these units and managed them is selling and retiring.

My mother was a real estate agent up in our area for 30+ years with her last 7 years doing new construction before she retired. 

Run by retired folks, that have nothing better to do, then nit pick and nit pick there.Never buy a rental in an HOA.

I have retirement income and own 3 duplexes and a single family home.  

Hawaii was an idea to have a vacation rental, this would be also a home project, like buying a duplex to retire there.