@Eric CanningBackground: My wife and I are Airbnb superhosts with a few properties in the Poconos.We’ve had our share of troubling guests: - People who blast music at 2 AM and wake up the neighbors (our units are in an HOA so security is dispatched immediately)- People who don’t know how to operate a grill and nearly burn down a portion of deck railing- Late checkouts - Bacon grease on the walls, or crayons, or both- Clear evidence of weed and cigarettes being smoked inside the property (we have a strict, no-smoking rule)- Planters thrown from the deck two stories down, and lamps broken (same guest for both) - Holes in walls that obviously look like they came from a boot (drunken)I’m telling you this because we have opted not to review any of these guests negatively; rather, we don’t review them at all.

And HOAs.  

After having the plans drawn up by an architect and submitting them to the HOA for review, we discovered the CC&R's on this particular street required tile roofs, which added a significant expense to each new build - approximately $30,000 for the structurally reinforced roof needed to support tiles.

Those duplexes are super nice but if I remember correctly they have a fairly steep HOA fee that didn't include many amenities.

Lessons learned: - HOA covers trash and grass cutting (lower stress/risk) - HOA ensures outdoor and roof are in order and functional (lower stress/risk) - Townhomes are SIGNIFICANTLY less to insure - Townhomes rent just like any other single family home - I likely won't get lifetime tenants in this location, but am surprisingly getting rents comparable to a more expensive Nashville suburb Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Some don't maintain their lawns resulting in HOA notices that I have to run down.

One of my properties is borderline Indio in a non hoa community by Indian Springs Golf Course.

Unless you have some high HOA or CDD fees on top of the mortgage amount that you are not paying if you decided to rent.

As someone in Denver who keeps my eyes open to the mountains, I continue to see this number climb higher and higher making it more difficult to realize proper cash flows - especially once hefty mountain HOAs get factored in.

I have always been concerned about the power of condo HOAs and do not like others to have such a say in my investments.