these are tough.. there is no one who has a for profit business that is writing these especially at that low of interest rate.

Maintenance requirements are not reasonable and are enforced (although inconsistently).

I'd suggest a B or B- neighborhood due to lower average costs of maintenance and high appreciation.

After my preliminary research, there are still two questions I was still curious about regarding a condo I wanted to rent out in the future.1) What can I do to ensure I do not end up spending a crazy amount of my cash flow on random maintenance costs such as special HOA assessments.2) How can I make sure to obtain tenants for my property ASAP so I do not have a single month without earning rent.Thank you so much!

I will need to use some creative financing or lender as my credit score is low (620) and my current house has about $250,000 of equity in it which the banks won't lend as I have a $45,000 lien on my house due to my city repair program that I enrolled in to help me with some of the repairs to the house and also because my credit score is so low.

Landlords must communicate clear maintenance expectations.

Unfortunately the barrier for entry into a lower-end home is about $1 million now, and property taxes are low (likely less than $5k).I currently have a financed home with about ~250k in equity (2% interest rate), and we have about ~220k in cash. 

The upstairs tenants are paying super low rents in a 1 bedroom and 1 tenant is leaving in 3 months.

I would assume so, but it's best to check with the lender to see how they interpret official FHA guidelines which read:"Net Self-Sufficiency Rental Income is calculated by using the Appraiser’s estimate of fair market rent from all units, including the unit the Borrower chooses for occupancy, and subtracting the greater of the Appraiser’s estimate for vacancies and maintenance, or 25 percent of the fair market rent."

It could have been cheaper, but I am living here so my materials are more expensiveI would say that these numbers are pretty low, because I manage the project myself and I hire very affordable labor.