I'll try to be the voice of reason, but if I see something that I like, I may get on board.I was in Belize for a day(on a cruise) and can see the potential for any of these countries once theri tourism sector gets developed.

Welcome @Marquez Cohn    I spent some time as a young man cruising Castro Valley Blvd.

I will add get permission to back some cookies... nice cookie smell is comforting.. also bottles of water with your name on them.. lender there to do instant prequal is nice as well.. you can't do this but when its your listing.. you can offer a free cruise certificate.  

One of my favorite Tom Cruise's movie line Is "Show me the money!".  

Although I have been cruising this site for a short while now, I have grown to really appreciate what the folks here at BP are offering and am ready to get involved and learn more...so here goes,   I am indeed a newb to real-estate in general, although my late father was an aspiring creative financing artist before his time came and I suppose that influence is rubbing off on me. 

Old School method: hit up your local County or City Chamber of Commerce for the area you are cruising. 

Once I have my marketing on cruise control for the next few months (which I should complete today), I am going to turn my attention to the details of the articles you sent me.

(if all goes well during those 8 years).Take that $50k back out in 6 months (usual seasoning period) through a refinance, and invest it into the next deal and your original property gets only $5000 ncf per year, but that's $5k ahead...not behind...and...you get to double that on the next deal you're putting the refi cash into...so at the end of the year you're looking at $10k in NCF, while that "all cash in" investor is still cruising at only $8k/year.  

Also, I just got my real estate license here in Illinois to assist me with my goals.My long term goal is to have enough passive income through rental properties to allow my family and I to cruise the Bahamas and Caribbean on our sailboat as much as possible.

West Michigan is great.If you're looking for advice, you will get plenty on BiggerPockets... just start cruising the forums.