While personal circumstances can vary, it will be a unique situation indeed if $10K in debt should force you to declare bankruptcy. 

I know Walter personally.. he knows a lot about real estate from many angels..

I personally learned I enjoy local investing in residential properties.

For example is a personal loan from a bank is 7.5 % that you could use as a down payment (after its seasoned), and your 401k loan is 4.5% but the 401k is expected to return 7.5% per year the money you save on one end you miss out on the other end basically and if your 401k returns are 20%, then you lose out significantly. 2.

If you see work crews reaching out, ask the person in charge of securing housing where they go looking.

I've never done one personally but my understanding is it involves the home being put into a trust, with the sub2 purchaser buying the trust from you.

H there, I'm a certified international property specialist and while i don't personally specialize n Costa Rica,  have several colleagues who do.  

This is my first personal mortgage so I'm trying to learn the game.

I would recommend targeting 30 day minimum rentals (Most associations are 90+), allowing 12+ rentals per year (most allow 1-3), and no in-person screening for tenants required.

I think they contain solid information and will help lay a good foundation as a beginner (Haha, I'm completely new to real estate as well, btw)I'm also going to be reading the following books, and hopefully I can finish all by the end of this month:1) The ABCs of Property Management2) The Advanced Guide to Real Estate Investing3) Long-Distance Real Estate Investing How to Buy, Rehab, and Manage Out-of-State Rental Properties (this might be the most important one to me personally)4) The Book on Investing in Real Estate with No (and Low) Money DownIn addition to reading, I'm consuming crazy amounts of youtube videos, and I'recommend you do this as well.