I’ve noticed wildly different numbers that have a big impact on my forecasted costs so I think I do need to keep checking insurance numbers.

You may want to live in a world of Wild West, anything goes business (I won't mention the orange haired political elephant in the room) but I assure you, your ignorant, uninformed, and weak defense of this sort of activity is not common.

It's wild to me that people continue to invest in these markets where these kinds of things are happening.

Quote from @Ashton Grieco: Quote from @Andrew Steffens: Overall I do not recommend condos because of the fees but if your heart is set on it, last year I brokered a gulf front penthouse condo in Indian Shores, FL, facilitated the renovation, and now manage it and it is so far wildly successful! 

Everything you saying is echoing what I believe.Accountant by day 9-5 and own about 13 units between a few buildings with my lady and recently got into fix/flip in order to scale.Sounds dead on.

Mainly because they advertise saying they have been investing over the last 15 years and been wildly successful.

The wild card is you have to also consider when the PMI would stop.Once again, REI ultimately becomes a math problem.

fixed rate mortgage payments can fluctuate wildly

Wow, the level of delusion some landlords and tenants reach is wild.

Quote from @Fernando Alonso: Hey Joe,Welcome to the wild world of Florida foreclosure auctions.You're asking a great and very common question, so let me try to clarify it as simply as possible.Under Florida law, the money paid over the judgment amount at auction is called a "surplus", and it follows a very specific distribution order:1) Junior lienholders to the foreclosed mortgage get first crack at the surplus.2) If anything remains, the previous owner (or their heirs) can claim it.3) If no one claims it after 1 year, the winning bidder (you) can try to recover it.4) After a few years, unclaimed funds eventually go to the Florida Department of Education.Now, here’s the key part for your case:The HOA lien is not a junior lien to the foreclosed mortgage unless it was formally recorded after the mortgage and named in the foreclosure complaint.