The worst thing you can do is to choose one contractor and use all of their subs out of state.

As far as choosing a neighborhood - your best bet is to find a good investor-friendly realtor who can help you.

Many investors from California, are choosing to invest in the midwest because of the yearly returns making more sense in these lower priced markets.

We are still uncertain on which asset class to choose.

That will cover not only the rehab but also the mortgage payments and carrying costs until the rehab is done plus more to invest in whatever else you choose.

Because I have enough cash, I can choose to leave ~$1m of value in these 2 properties at the lower rate rather than refi at the higher rate.  

They're not going to waste their time helping foreigners knowing that many will end up not buying.I'm happy to refer you to my lawyer once you have found a property but it's better that you choose one in the region and province you're going to invest in as there could be "legal" differences pertaining to you.On another note, it's important that you realize that strategies that work in the US might not work in Spain and financing is different so you might want to figure out first if that works for you first to make sure you don't waste time and money unnecessarily.Hope this helps.

It seems like everyone focuses on choosing certain states based on rental laws and fees and fails to mention the the primary LLC should be in the state where the property is- in which case the the other state options are not helpful.The wyoming legal office did offer to set up a parent company under which my other LLCs be owned-- which I understand that concept.Thanks again!

Choose what type of rent payment method you want the tenant to use (e.g. online portal, ACH, checks, etc.).

A lease is the way YOU want to conduct your rental so choosing one randomly/ already done may not be correct for you.Resident screening is very important but there are state laws and even federal laws (disparate impact as an example) that you want to be careful about.Having a few key maintenance people is very important as well because that is an area of great concern to the resident.I could go on but feel free to ask more questions.