Does it make sense to eat the higher cost/rate and go this route (will update this thread once I know the exact numbers)?

Having said that, I love to eat what I kill so I do invest what and when I can, but that investment has nothing to do with "skin in the game" or "alignment of interest." 

If the inspector doesn’t find anything - the tenant will eat the cost of that inspection.

Post an abandonment notice as soon as is practical if you don't get news and/or rent goes late.In this situation your priority needs to be getting the unit back and rerented, plan to eat the damages and unpaid rent beyond the deposit if there are any. 

If buying less expensive properties, you must make good cashflow, or be willing to eat the loss without worry.

Now I am not sure how much you paid for your primary home now, but if it did not eat all of this up then you still have some left to use on the next home.

A HML with the numbers you presented would eat you alive (do the math at 8.5% and 2 points on the 700k plus 25k in repairs and you’ll see).

We can rent it out for the mortgage but will end up eating the $300/ HOA.

I had 3 leases of putting it on market and the guy I picked played games and burned me right before Christmas, so had to eat an extra few weeks to get it leased but put it back on and got 3 more applications with a higher rent Lessons learned?

Have a PM that takes any warm body and turns tenants every 12-18 months and it eats profit real fast....ANY PM you choose.... you need specifics on how they work..... own repair crew or just farm it out..... how they handle cost of repairs.....how often do they inspect...evictions..... how good do they track and report your income and expenses etc.Personally if you have one unit within an hour, you should probably handle this yourself..... once you get it set up, its not much work at all..... get your "go to" companies for repairs lined up, so if something comes up, you make a call and move on with your day.