At the closing table I received the rest of December’s rent from the previous owner.

.: @Jordyn Ohsnot enough info to helpbut if you're using a HELOC for the down payment AND getting a loan, then you're probably negative cash flow given that's 100% leveragei would never do that unless i were going to refinance in the short termHi Nicolas, Heloc for down payments, but my own cash and sweat equity for the rest.

If that country is part of the Hague Convention, a local official can handle the signing and attach an Apostille authenticating the document(s).

And it's an asset that will grow with you for the rest of your life.

I only have enough funds for a 20-25% downpayment and was looking to do a DSCR loan to cover the rest.

Just $24,000 per year and could be drinking Rum and fruit juice for the rest of my life. 

I don't know if South Carolina has those or not... but the rest of this explanation should still be valid.  

We own 10 homes, but all the rest are traditional leases and are also close to our primary home in the Lake Norman area (all w/in 30m).

They would get that $500K tax free and the rest of the tax would be deferred in the 1031.A very elegant solution that puts $500K tax free in their hands now. 

If before getting a permit you have to dance around for Code Dept officials/ city gov and crime is thru the roof, investments will definitely be low whether real estate or other, but it should be benefiting the city officials to keep things that way.