Our pet deposit is non-refundable which is what I generally would recommend (assuming your state and local laws allow that).

Check your local/state law.

Tenants have come mostly by word of mouth through some local tradesman.

If you are going to have a company manage your property, I would recommend you find someone that is local. 

Tho, when one really stands out from a typical local norm at a given time in that market, it may help me to gauge the overall truthiness of the seller/syndicator when it comes to their other claims.

network with local agents to see where they took theres. but not much to it but go with who you feel comfortable with.

Rodrigues is an awesome LOCAL lender, who works a lot with foreigners.

Why not just hire a local real estate agent to handle leasing? 

After debating local vs. or OOS, it seems like prudent advice to try to start locally with long term MF in so cal. 

Other international markets may be too opaque for me, and I'm definitely going to invest in China as it's not possible to even have more than one property in your own name (to the best of my knowledge) and the local government can find many ways to screw you over if they wish to.