He owns the house free and clear, but he hasn't maintained it very well the last few years as his health has declined.

Can it become a health and safety issue. 

Typical reasons are loss of job, reduced income from job or business, divorce, death in family, health issues affecting employment, overuse of credit cards, medical bills. 

Add that to the insight you've already seen on the post re the challenges of the refi, needing to vet the HOA health, understanding the HOA covenants (particularly related to rentals)....keep kissing more frogs until you find a better princess.

Why wouldn't I want to own the houses too?The

Don't forget about things that the employer may be taking care of now - health insurance, possible matching $401k - if your partner's employer doesn't have this, add another several hundred per month.So simple math wise, $5k/month * 12 months => $60k, that's post tax btw. + possible health insurance.One flip isn't enough to give a sense of the reliability of your contractor.

I work in the health care field as well as an RN.  

Our exterminator is on the Health Board and said the house is basically unihabitable and that we really need to get the tenants out to solve the problem.I have been in contact with these tenants.  

My mother in law owns a home here in Houston with a current FHA mortgage, but had to move closer to us (on the other side of Houston) for health reasons.

Lonng time no talk @Charlie MacPherson been dealing with family health issues and haven't been on bp for a long time.