A very important note to your getting started phase - No real investors want to "to grab a coffee or hop on a call" without getting to know a little about you and knowing if you have something to offer them.

That should be an interesting thread. :-) 

I had a passion for real estate for quite sometime now but it was until i went into being a short-term rental agent and making sales of $12,222 from April to date that i saw that there is actually quite a huge demand for short term rental here in Tanzania and i can decide to not just be an agent but rather work myself up to becoming a real estate investor and get my own properties.That 12k, though in humble beginnings showed my that there's something here.

The general rhetoric was that this was going to make it harder to be an agent.

Means no seller carryback above 80%.Using gift funds may be an option as well.

Its going to be an investment property.

High-speed internet, a desk, good coffee etc will be different than a family staying for a vacation. 

I’m in the Middle Tennessee area if anyone is open to sitting down for lunch or coffee with My business partner and I.

Behind that insurance can be an umbrella policy.

Since you're a U.S. citizen living abroad, non-QM (non-qualified mortgage) programs designed for foreign nationals might be an ideal solution for your situation.