The first are the By-Laws, which generally provide the detail of when and how Regular Board meetings and Annual or Special Membership meetings are held; how elections are conducted; Board makeup, positions, terms, and Powers & Duties.The Declaration defines which elements are Owner responsibility, and which are Common, or Limited Common elements that the HOA is responsible for; easements that give the HOA access to specific elements within the Owner's lot and premises; and Architectural guidelines.Most, but not all HOA's also have "House Rules" which addresses Resident and Guest actions and behavior while on Common or Limited Common elements or that are viewable by others.Certainly there are some Governing Docs that do not exactly follow these examples, and there may be different State laws that name the Docs differently, but they will be similar in content.

I used to have premium membership with Loopnet, but don't do enough deals to justify the cost, so I use the free side and have a few searches set up to watch for properties that might interest me. 

If you read @Chad Carson's book How To Retire Early With Real Estate, most of the successful investors he surveyed had a balance of real estate and stocks. 

While the primary purpose of these vists is routine maintenance (clean/change HVAC filters, check backup batteries in smoke/CO alarms, etc.) it provides an opportunity to survey the state of the property and find small issues (the leak under the kitchen sink) before they become large problems (the students will not notice, or remember to tell you, about the leak under the kitchen sink until water drips from the ceiling below)- hold tenants accountable for utilities.  

On this very day, the special assessment is ratified by the membership.

I then start the underwriting process with all the details gathered from the owner and look up taxes, do a market survey etc.

Generally, they will also prepare a "proposed" Budget for the new year, but the Board makes adjustments and approves the final document, which is what authorizes the Managing Agent to make payments to vendors as authorized in that Budget.The Board, within the authority specified and in the manner specified within the project governing Documents, can change certain types of rules, and draft resolutions or proposals that the Membership must vote on to change other types of rules, most notably the By-Laws and Declaration, typically.

What they own is a membership interest in an entity (the partnership LLC) that owns real estate. 

The loan will have to be paid back with interest to the lender.Or you can sell some membership interest of XYZ against a capital input but then you would have to change your LLC to a multi member LLC and draft a proper operating agreement.

It’s a lifetime membership.