They ended up selling at a loss and learned a valuable lesson the hard way.If you wouldn't feel comfortable living in the area, then why invest there?

I don't know, I usually get 3 bids and go with whom I'm comfortable with, it's less heavy lifting in the end that you have to do anyway.

If you’re comfortable paying a setup fee of about $7,800 and an additional $2,000 per month for a service that performs well for just two months before going radio silent, then this might be the right fit for you.

Get out of your comfort zone.

It took me a while to get comfortable with 30y mortgages.You have to learn how to control that.

And also, since I am the borrower, am I correct in my understanding that I would be subject to a tax on cancellation of debt which would lower my total IRR.I saw many years ago (like in 2017) on BP that note investors were shooting for 10-12% IRR in a zero-interest rate environement. 

In order to lower rates significantly, we are either in a deflationary environment (housing prices likely going down) or have high unemployment—the economy is not doing well.

In particular, I am able to invest around 60-65% of my monthly income - I make around 10k USD per month and need 3500-4000 for comfortable living (I am a Russian citizen living in Serbia). 

Plus, that W2 income is what is going to keep banks comfortable loaning you money to keep growing.  

If you're not comfortable with the eviction process, hire an attorney.https://guides.sll.texas.gov/landlord-tenant-law/eviction-pr...