My advice: don’t overthink it—your first house hack is about learning, so pick a strong rental market, ensure solid demand, and lock in a deal that gets you close to break-even or better.

Great tools that get updated regularly.I am on the lending side of things and would be happy to hop on a call with you anytime to discuss financial strategies and help answer any questions you may have about nearly any loan product available to help you on your journey, even if they are not products my capital partners offer.We are all here to help you learn and grow.

.: Quote from @Tom Gimer: You can't take an element from state X such as "uniqueness" and try to apply it in state Y where that appears not to even be part of the analysis.Let's see how this turns out. 

I have quite a bit of experience in the Detroit market and even have a few Section 8 tenants myself.

Even 600k loan at 10% interest costs $165 a day.

I’d try my best to be outside the beltway in Baltimore county, generally the nicer areas, I tend to especially like Towson, lutherville, even parkville is a good value. 

Aside from that, there are DSCR loans out there that cater to first time homebuyers, some that even allow those that live rent free to purchase as well.

Partial or full doesn't matter (except see note below re: coming even on delinquent rent).The statute regarding notice for evictions states: "No judgment of possession shall be entered for . . . except in the nonpayment unless the landlord has made written demand and given written notice for delivery of possession of the premises.”

Looking to get into some smaller apartment buildings in the near future.As far as the difficulties of investing in Japan, I of course agree with everything said, but in my case I'm at near-native fluency and own and manage my own business separate from anything real estate related so even without permanent residency I've never had trouble getting a loan (except of course I can't get some govt backed ones like a primary residence mortgage) for business or investing.I'll try to get in touch with everyone local to よろしくお願いします。

Even with the mortgage paid off, some of the $2000 in rent will go to maintenance, repairs and property taxes.