@Andrew LowOPM is a real thing and a great thing. but, lets be real. you cannot go into real estate investing with a few hundred bucks...at least not in most cases. at this point, we have people that will fund our deals over 100% but it took experience and pain and having spent our own money to get there. if you have done a bunch of deals and have a proven track record, you can really not use any of your own money. i do not know, just starting out if you can pull that off. hard money is a great option. happy to share more if you'd like.

The only time I would ever consider buying a property without seeing it in person is if I had Warren Buffet-type money, and the property was a tiny fraction of my net worth--and even then, I'd only do it if I had a highly, highly skilled realtor and inspector on the ground who I had a long history with, and who had repeatedly proven to me that they understood how to inspect and evaluate properties, HOAs and neighborhoods.As for the HOA: My impression is that most HOAs around SLC do not allow owners to rent their units...if this HOA does allow you to rent, you'll want to do serious due diligence looking at the HOA's contracts, asking about the structure and governance of the HOA, investigating how easily the HOA can change their contracts and how often they've changed those contracts in the past, polling the HOA members and the owners in the HOA on their opinions about owner's rights to rent their units, learning about how easy it would be, and how likely it would be for the HOA to ban renting or do anything else that could up-end your business model, etc., etc., etc. 

Sidenote the IRS will not recognize it as 0% and make you also pay taxes on it as its interest based on AFR.

Typically, PMLs only lend to people once they have a proven track record.

You are taking on all the risk, bringing all of the experience, and have already proven yourself to them.

If you consistently analyze properties, it will be much easier to recognize a good deal when it shows up.

If you consistently analyze properties, it will be much easier to recognize a good deal when it shows up.

Also recognize that any structure or unit unpermitted could open up the door to having you have to remove it.

It is unusual for a court to force someone to go through with a deal they only award damages if proven. 

If you want 2 separate services/meters, usually the only legit way is to have it zoned multifamily so the city and utility companies formally recognize it as a duplex.You may be able to install a sub panel.