I personally recommend people look into an FHA on a small multi to get started.

@Jill KellerI personally owned and managed several rental properties, mainly one family, 3-families and been advised by a number of attorneys through the years to forget doing LLC's.

I personally know the person that owns the property and am close friends with him.

I have not seen a significant difference in this area between section 8 and non-section 8 tenants, personally. 

The first few weeks were great, but at some point, you realize that all of your friends are working and you can only watch that much daytime TV.

If you are nearby, if you have ever been a pizza delivery person, maybe deliver a pizza to the wrong house that may or may not be the one being foreclosed on so atleast you can see inside a small portion. we used to just go knock on the door some folks would actually let you look around.

Personally, and what I would do for my clients, I would connect with a local community banker to discuss the property and see if their bank would entertain this type of financing (not all banks like doing this type of deal).

I would say the same for employees who need say a second advance on their wages (we allow one).I am willing to make a personal loan if an employee really needs it and you could consider doing it that way with a tenant in need.

I’ve read quite a few posts about foreign investor financing but most seem to deal with non-citizen investors without US credit or personal tax filings.

Hiring a lawyer sounds expensive, but it is way cheaper than hiring a amateur (in this case yourself) who costs you money and provides no results (and then you need to hire a professional anyway).My personal philosophy is to "do it right, or do it twice" and its way cheaper to do it right once.