We just love the country and plan to visit often and figured why not expand our business into Japan.

I use to  give estate planning seminars with an attorney and stock broker, so I know it's not that big of a deal.

In order to do this you need to have deal flow and you need to know 1) How to recognize a good, profitable deal, 2) How to put together funds quickly to buy the deal before someone else does and in such a way where you are protected and the deal is protected, 3) How to run the project so that you follow the budget and don't overspend or overbuild, 4) How to attract an end buyer or a renter and which documents to use to protect yourself and the buyer, 5) If you are going to keep the property then you need to know how to set up the property from the start to best help you in the refinance later, and 6) You need to know how you are planning on managing the property from the beginning in order to make sure it will be profitable at the end.

It's usually best to talk with your neighbors about your plans and get their support as one of the variance tests is that the requested relief does not cause a public health issue or alter the essential character of the neighborhood.Try googling "tests for a variance in [your state]" and talk with your local zoning department.

I would like to start close to home as I plan to self manage the rental side of it.

The 2-3% points in extra cost are worth it if you plan on using as I described above because the use would be for a few  months at most and due to that short term use you can survive a rate adjustment up.But, if you have no plan to payoff the debt like when using for a down payment on a long term hold why pay the extra cost for flexibility and have the additional risk of the adjustable rate with the amortization looming when you can get a fixed rate second mortgage. 

Suggest you get your game plan in place first then go forward once you have the goal in sight.

We are seeing a lot of investors have success with this strategy with plans to hold the properties they are rehabbing as rentals for several years before selling.

What's the plan with the property?

I think I will plan to do this hopefully in a year or so.