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.

Each require county inspections that extend the permit process.

Connecting with them directly will help you get a better sense of voucher amounts, inspection standards, and timelines.

I would also advise doing your own inspection of the property to make sure that everything that they say is being done is actually completed and to code and that there shouldn't be any surprise maintenance costs at the beginning.  

Right now what I am looking at is buying homes that are nearing completion so I can inspect them as they are built, and then buying the finished 3bd 2ba home with unfinished basement and finishing the basement myself to rent it as a 6bd 3ba.

They offer a $10K repair fund to fix damages in addition to SD plus warranty for appliance repair etc.I have no say in whom they choose to move in, whether there are animals, limit on # of occupants etc. they reserve right to inspect property so i have no idea if they can tell me to remodel, paint etc.does this make sense i have a vacancy coming up in October (bad rental timing).

His course will cost you 5k plus the downpayment of say $2500 on a property that likely needs work before it's ready for inspection. 

I even called the number at the end of the webinar to ask how earnest money works, which they claim they pay upon completion of inspection.

I will be down soon if the inspection goes well today, which it should be perfect given it was a full gut remodel.  

Currently doing 3 renos, having an EDEN inspection today that will pass and closing on two more Friday, again all from OOS.