He basically said if someone was able to build an HOA management platform that was both user-friendly and affordable, there would be a real market there.Having deep knowledge of relational databases, java rest APIs, user-friendly UIs and just building/deploying web applications in general, plus having built these types of systems many times before professionally -- albeit in different sectors/industries -- I’m seriously considering a side project to build some type of HOA SAAS (software-as-a-service) product that will hopefully make people’s life’s easier without costing them a fortune.My question is, before I invest time and energy in this, is there actually a market there?

Any thoughts on Microsoft & Zoho, or the other products you mentioned specifically around easy of use/integration w/ Microsoft? 

Unless I’m seriously out of the loop, you can’t upgrade from Self Employed to Essentials and transfer your data over - SE is a separate product on a separate OS and it’s a bummer.

They are geared more towards their members and in my experience usually have pretty good loan products.

It's completely unproductive until you pull it out and invest in something productive.

But using the 50% rule of thumb as a conservative start to estimate capex/vacancy/repairs, they did not technicaly cash flow based on .5 x gross rent - PITI.I assume this is because with a brand new product, maintenance and capex will be really low for a long time am I right?

Start by talking with every one of your local banks and CUs to see what products they offer, @Angela Clark.

A lot of forum members are very knowledgeable in their respective fields related to real estate investing, whether that is real estate sales, wholesaling, flipping, rentals, lending, self-directed IRA and Solo 401k investing, or tax and legal guidance.Discounts on some products and services are offered to BP members: https://www.biggerpockets.com/perks/proIf you haven’t been to it already, you might want to check out the BP blog: https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/The site has quite a few tools that can be helpful for new members.

However, if you have an experienced lender that understands minimum property conditions necessary to close the transaction (and also has the products available), you may be able to utilize conventional financing to purchase a neglected property that others overlooked. 

Listen, we are all here to feed off of one another through experience, it counter productive to make remarks like that.