So close half the schools, half the stores and you can forget about raising rents and appreciation history.

But based on your reaction I can see where that could raise an eyebrow to someone.

The builder may or may not have had problems but neighbors may have raised heck or collectively made an offer purchasing an interest in specific lots to "protect" the homeowner's property values.A trick of builder developers is to build nicer homes first, then infill latter with cheaper homes allowing the nicer home to influence price, they also add commercial later on as either depresses value of the nicer home built first.

I am a new/old member, and I say that because I have been reading BiggerPockets since 2008, but I just now created an account.Anyway a little about me:I was born in Philadelphia, PA and raised in Burlington NJ.

I been listening to a lot of the podcasts and taking a lot of notes.Born and raised in Fresno, CA and Alumni of Fresno State.  

Of course if you find a lender that will give you this much money, it will not be cheap so be prepared for higher points and interest rates.Once you get a couple of deals under your belt and have more confidence and the experience to back it up, you might be able to raise some private money from friends and family. 

They purposely set condo fees low to entice buyers and then raise the quickly thereafter.

If the owners wanted the power in their name so they could see the ups/downs they always had the option to have it in their name.Not sure what the real motivation is, may be they are having problems collecting from tenants moved out and decide to put the thumb on the owners.It doesn't affect me too much I will just raise the rent a bit to offset the cost. 

But you raise another good question.

There is already a level of comfort and usually they know to an certain extent what each other wants.Last on my list is syndications where they want long close times and it's not  a blind pool and they have to raise the money and some buyer might drop out at the last second.I have sheets and a screening process for my buyers.