As to "taking control" you'll have to wait until there are board elections (typically annually although usually for part, not all of the board) and run yourself and people you control for the board seats.

I have long wondered if transferrring title to an LLC while keeping the loan in the borrower's name personally could open the door to a piercing the corporate veil situation.

I'm pretty sure BP has an article about realtors working with investors that is definitely a good thing to read up on. other than that be ready to spend a little money, be ready to run comps, and re-hab "numbers"  on properties for your investment side all around just prepare yourself and soak up as much information as you possibly can because learning the realtor side of the real estate world and the investment side are two, I wouldn't say completely different things but there is a lot more information to stack on top of the realtor knowledge.

I own 7 doors as an unlicensed RE investor in California.

I would run an AIRDNA report 

Yes, I am currently running Facebook ads to find off market properties as a buyer and am enjoying some success.

These are usually small things, like a slow leaky toilet, some loose handles in the kitchen, maybe the shower diverter isn't working well (we have very hard water here so its common).While this is rather/sort of embarrassing, I THINK bBy getting them fixed quickly it actually shows that I a landlord that intends to maintain my properties and provide at least a decent place for my tenants to live.To save a bit of money, I change out the locksets on the door myself. 

I’m next door in VT and may be looking for hard money on a deal I found recently.

I think they are rent capped by the government (I wonder when that runs out), so raising the rents is probably not an option, and having experience in this niche with all of it's "Red Tape" and paperwork would be helpful.

They were polite but they just made me run around in circles.