Good luck on the deal but make sure you know ALL of the costs before you lock it in as it can easily make a great deal look 180 degrees differently.

Education via trail & error is easily the #1 worst way to go about anything today UNLESS your an explorer, inventor, revolutionizing and still all of those have a whole lot of training and education backing them. 

I think this can be easily solved by sticking to a few banks and building a relationship to get the better rate/fees.

Any issues that occur with the property can easily be solved with the property manager working nearby. 

Had someone in mind who I thought would be great but he wants to add fees that I feel are unfair including $200 admin fee (on top of credit report fees) and mandatory 41.45 monthly for enrollment in their program which includes rental insurance and hvac filters, identity ins, and a few other little things.I've managed to keep costs pretty low for my tenants but realize I've been cheating myself. one is buying. 

A well qualified business broker or someone else experienced in those calculations (think someone with statistics/finance expertise) can easily do this.  

Second, even in countries that do allow foreigners to buy investment properties relatively easily (like Spain), you typically have to come up with much larger down payments (like 40%+) as a foreigner.

In any case, you can easily calculate that.Looking at your objective of retiring in Costa Rica, you have two options:1.

Eminent domain does not work that easily or simply. 

You can easily report them to the regulators if they do something fraudulent and can pay fines and/or have their license revoked.