Hope your venture goes smoothly!

Things are moving along smoothly. 

Expecting it to take couple months, and i expect things to be smooth from there on

IRR is a metric that smooths out the return on your investment as a whole throughout your holding period, not just year by year measure of return.To answer your question - does paying down the loan lowers your return?.

Don't expect it to go all smooth.

Paul summed it up so smoothly.

A few things I would suggest is to put in an inspection contingency, have a realtor you trust to help make sure the transaction runs smoothly and have someone you know attend the inspection to be your eyes and ears.

Made about half as much as this deal but it went smoothly.

how can I make this next step a smooth transition?

Most people buying investment properties frequently establish long term relationships with a lender to save them from having to resubmit the exact same paperwork over and over again, and to keep things smooth, etc.If you're trying to close while physically overseas, I'd also start looking into settlement service providers, sometimes called a "title company" and sometimes called a "settlement lawyer" depending on the state the real estate is in.