My final thought was a HELOC, but so far I've had a hard time getting banks to lend because I don't have enough equity.

I think these are great questions and I wrestled with it for a while until I just finally got over it by realizing what I wanted. 1.

And my contract with them expires in a week.To make a long story short, there were other issues that almost scuttled the deal, so the broker finally said, OK, we'll do it for $180K then, I'm so tired of this, so I be done with it without making anything.

Ray, thank you for the "Heads Up", on rent and renter's behavior - did you start the rental price at the high end and negotiated, if you had to, from there?

So, it feels great to finally arrive at this point in my life to make it a reality.

Also, every house comes furnished and a lot of accommodating for different items that would never be considered in the US, i.e. negotiating hard/soft bed, larger fridge, installing oven & installing a dryer. 

Depending on the terms I would like 12%-15% on the notes but that is negotiable based on everything else.Where did you find the deal?

Negotiate a higher monthly rent for the lease, have the lease option to go month-to-month after the initial 6 months.

Knowing that everything is negotiable. 

A good Realtor should know your particular market inside and out, help you analyze the cost effectiveness of buying certain properties and assist you in offer negotiations while guiding you through the entire REI process.