I'm working with condos, and yes the HOA's can be a pain sometimes but the one upside is that there's no exterior maintenance, no roof to worry about, and most of the time I can call the building management first if there is an issue.  

Kinda of a pain but we figured out a system and could put one together in less than 1 minute so we moved fast lol. 

I am at significant loss on this investment , and haven't been able to get it properly cash flowing since I bought it in Dec 2014.I have approached them and attempted to negotiate a payment plan, but got the royal FU.They are a family of 5, she claims to have major health problems, surgery etc, claims to be homeless as a result of the eviction etc.- difficult for me to assess the accuracy of these claims.My dilemma is obvious and I am sure many of you have faced similar:1.

I am more worried about builing wealth in the long run...everything sounds rosey here but I have never had a rental properties and some people I know tell me having a rental property is pain in ***.

Michael,That is a tough question to answer due to your health and unknown financial situation.

I'd like to get buy and hold property, but long term financing seems like a pain to get in my situation, so buying them outright seems right to me.

Curenrly I work full time in mental health and I have a fairly considerable amount of capital at my disposal to start my real estate investing business. 

Were any of your properties wiped out big-time?  Or on the other hand did any of you find some great opportunities such as homeowners with significant damage they couldn't afford to fix who needed to get out of their ...

I feel your pain.  

Commuting to Redmond from Seattle is a pain in the ***, definitely look for alternatives.