This coverage is incase your home get "tagged" or possibly you have aluminum siding and the lower 6 ft get ripped off.

Some HOA's can be way overboard but those are few and far between.You might want to stay away from older houses and lower income tenants.

Lots of new housing units came to market, increasing supply and thus lowering demand.

Then there is the, what if your situation changes and now your limit is lower all of a sudden and you are mid purchase or mid renovation. 

To reduce your mortgage payment, you need to have a smaller loan, or a lower interest rate.

Now if you are talking about wanting to exercise your option to buy at the agreed upon price and the appraisal comes in lower it would be on you to make up the difference or walk away.

So far we have never had to lower rents a single time but in fairness I started buying in 2011 so the market hasn't been going down during that time frame.  

If I negotiate seller financing, I am afraid to get into an agreement with any kind of balloon payment (just because it makes me nervous to have it hanging over my head) but I would like to negotiate a lower percentage downpayment than 20% so that I could afford to purchase all four (rather than two) under a warranty deed contract.

I once took over an apartment building that was managed by a somewhat large property management company and they had a "national rate" (even though they aren't national) that was far lower than what I pay. 

I will soon own a former chiropractic clinic that as the potential to have 7 or 8 bedrooms plus a 2 bedroom apartment on the lower level.