For a little more detail...When I say the house is nicer than its surroundings, I mean that the bones, floorplan, and layout were all originally GREAT, but the cosmetics were in bad shape.

You do not want to be highly leveraged, that puts you in a bad position and will hurt you financially for more loans. 

A) Buy enough units to control the board or B) List the property and hope the buyer does not google your HOA which is probably like most and has been bad mouthed all over the internet.

There is never a bad thing about issuing one to someone who does not need one.

---------------------------The Bad News First------------------------------1)  I bought my first home on a 100% financed loan when I was 22. 

I’m not saying you have to take bad deals but what are you going to do if the market keeps climbing for 10 more years?

or bad credit?

Taking it now is bad karma.

I have seen many a client get in very bad shape with partners, friend or otherwise, because they did not go through this very important step.

I finally found and bought some apartments in Fl at a 23% cash on cash return, not a bad deal, but I had to put $350K into a $1.5 M property w 30 yr Amort and 4.6%.