RE Contracts from overseas

[Geoff Husa]

Hello fellow BP'ers! My family and I live overseas, in Papua New Guinea, and are preparing to return to Phoenix - Tempe, Chandler area - in May or June where we are planning on getting started with real estate investing. We'll be home just for one year before returning overseas. Our first purchase, as well as being an investment, will also be our personal residence for the year. As such, we'd like to have the option of being able to work with our agent, look for deals and make offers, and maybe even close the deal just prior to our return so that we have a place right away.

So my question is regarding whether or not it is possible to do all the contract signing from overseas? I know I can fly to the capital where they have a notary at the US Embassy, which is US soil. But I'm just not sure if the documents have to be the physical documents that are signed, or if there's a way to do it electronically, and how they'd be transported in a timely manner (many routes of transport from Papua New Guinea are down at the moment). 

One other option is that I do have a POA in AZ who can legally sign on our behalf. Would that be sufficient for real estate contracts?

Not sure if it matters for the discussion but this will be a conventional loan we'd be using to finance the deal.