Investing in property abroad

[Ben Kirchner]

Does anyone have property in a country they do not live in?  This interests me for several reasons.

1. My wife is from Brasil.  She currently has land in her name, and will ultimately own a house there (shared with her siblings) in years to come.  I really know nothing about the rental market in Sao Paulo, Brasil, so I'd have to do my research.  However, my wife will be faced with the option of selling the house, or renting it out down the road.  Keeping it as a rental has it's perks, listed in #2.

2. If we owned property in Brasil, I believe we could travel to visit family there and have a tax write off with it, as long as part of our trip was to tend to business matters in regards to the house.  How would these tax write offs work?

3. I've thought of living abroad in the future.  There are a handful of countries that my passive income in USD from rental property would stretch quite far.  

4. On topic of stretching USD further in another country, I've thought of future options of buying housing in another country to rent out , if rental rates were favorable, obviously.

So my questions for those who own property in a country they don't live in - Do you have a property manager?  Do you manage yourself with a list of vendors near the property?  Anyone who invests in a country outside of the United States, where have you invested, and what kind of % returns are you seeing in relation to purchase price and monthly rent?