I don’t want to be stuck in a difficult situation later if I could prevent it.I really would like to invest locally but living in bay area California does not help.

That is, it doesn’t prevent future bacterial or fungal growth.

All of my research shows that HOAs that actively foreclose have attorney and other relationships that prevent the home feom going to unconnected 3rd parties.Clever path..good luck to you.

I have physical issues that prevent me from doing most traditional work. 

@Jon HuberConcur on what @Will Barnard mentioned, the new bill coming in effect in 2020 has changes in ADU laws and prevent cities from setting certain limitation against ADU.

What if anything is preventing a seller and end buyer "hooking up" and working a deal  after the assignment contract expires?

You will get your person in to check everything to prevent another 'accident' in the future.

I believe it is in order to prevent a single person from buying up a lot of property for the sole purpose of using them as STRs. 

This is intentional, to secure leadership positions and prevent challenges from below. 

Our goals are to remove the members (already had one vote, which the two board members that needed to go somehow were reelected by 3 votes, and we have heard they paid off people to vote for them), prevent them from further unauthorized spending (we do have a big, reputable management company that handles the money), and press charges for the legal side.