. ^^ yes I closed on a house hack a few months ago and this is exactly what my mortgage broker told me, FHA appraisal itself was not much of a problem, the appraiser just looked for proper hand rails, chipping paint, relief valves on water heaters, etc, which are not a big issue unless the house is in bad shape, the bigger challenge was getting an FHA offer accepted over competing offers because of the perception to sellers that FHA is a big hassle/may not close, a 203k loan can wrap money for any needed repairs into the mortgage, so showing pre-qual for that may make your offers stronger 

Remove ponds and bird baths (no water no leaking faucets).

I expect my borrowing costs to be around $2000, insurance $150, water $80, property tax $400, maintenance $150 for a total $2630. 

Are there structural problems, problems with the roof, major problems with plumbing or electrical, signs of water damage, etc.

If so, then you may want to have a consultant estimate reasonable worst case scenario to determine costs and see if you can get a credit. does home have on-site drinking well or is it served by city water? 

New metal roof, water heater, windows, HVAC, etc. all the boring big ticket expenses have been covered for us.

Sewer and water is often omitted.

The valuable thing about this lot was that it had a spot in line on the water waitlist, which is a huge value add.

However... the gas nor water was on.

The CEO of Coca-Cola, the CEO of Red Bull, and the kid down the street with a lemonade stand are all in the business of selling flavored water, but you can't seriously expect them all to have the same business model because they're "running a business."