The drawbacks are that you will be governed by certain guidelines and laws. 

Jon...I like your C answer I thought about that as well... but I still keep thinking about getting people in the homes that was my only drawback for not chosing C.

So, let me run through a handful of things you can do along with some benefits and drawbacks quickly.Flip - this would be difficult to do from Germany especially as a new investor.  

My only drawback is money, inexperience, and lack of a mentor, which brings me to the other reason of why I am here.So that is it for the most part.

What would be the benefits or drawbacks to this approach?

Drawbacks might be airport (not as intl as DFW/ATL w/ fewer direct flights) and size of infrastructure needed to support but if there criteria is just 1M folks then that might not be as much of an issue.

I was thinking of allowing one cat or dog instead of banning them because the house has some other drawbacks and I would like to attract more people.

To the point: #1 Explore the 203K process--as an option or#2 HML-Hard Money Lenders may also be a viable optionOne draw-back you have so far is that you have to buy-a-home that cost at least $50K with the lender you have.

Have any of you looked into what some of the draw backs might be, such as liens on the property?

Other than this one drawback, the software is excellent for keeping track of rental income and a host of other property management features.