If there is any kind of damage to the house because of a natural cause if you approach the insurance company without a landlord's insurance they will outright deny your claim.If you have a mortgage the bank will insist that you have landlord insuranceTenant has renter's insurance.

I still find this hard to believe. 95% of would be real estate investors never buy a single house.

I have 9 partners on the mountain house at $117,500 each, and 10 partners on the beach house at $110,000 each, and I am currently looking for a few more partners on my jungle house near La Fortuna at $110,000 where there will be a total of 7 partners. 

The house was a 3 bed one bath.

I want to buy a 1 to 4 unit multifamily and house hack it (live in one unit and rent out the others).

Having a long-term rental while living abroad is do-able.Flipping houses while abroad, in my opinion, more difficult, especially if its your first go around with real estate.I would recommend taking a flight and staying in the area for a week and inspect the neighborhoods and make connections.You can reach out to @Elenis Camargo who has a PM company in Jacksonville.Best of luck though.

There is a guy near me with 6 small houses he rents , he has a waiting list .

It's in a newly developing area with houses being built and other lots selling nearby.

If they say Service Link, find another house.

That's a lot of work that needs to be done for your first house hack.