Your design background is a great asset for real estate investing.

For example, in Mexico, you can put less than 40-60% down, interest rates are in the single digits and you can get 20- to 30-year mortgages (and you can't get anything shorter actually) and the right areas would fit within @Richard Foltys' criteria.

@Rod Merriweather Getting a LOC (line of credit) secured by real estate from a bank is going to be tough as the line of credit is viewed as a short-term liability while the property is a long-term asset.

Is it to build up assets, is it to make additional income, is it to reduce your monthly housing spend and save more money, is it tax breaks/benefits? 

By zip code only or zip code + 4 digits?

I'm trying to automate and digitize more processes of managing long term and shortterm rentals. 

We were able to free up some capital so in the end we decided to keep the assets. 

I read newspapers (Digital) in the markets I am interested in.

And, comment to all, is there any ability to track these assets and see who owns the notes right now?

They are a great tool for asset protection (when you have assets to protect), but they are by no means the end all be all of liability mitigation.