You use a 6-foot good-quality box level and a pair of block planes for this (one should be cheap beater quality and the other should be something like a Stanley 12-920 for finer work when you'll need it).

Not sure how applicable it would be for a pair of duplexes.Next, the 50% rule already includes property management.  

Since you are Canadian I would suggest perhaps pairing up with an investor/investment group in the US that does some development in FL.They could help you identify locations in FL that require apartments as well as good land to built an apartment.

That's a hard thing to work on or pair, but it builds a lot of trust in both parties when we do.

Anyway, any thoughts or tips on lenders, process, contacts, etc. in Spain would certainly be extremely appreciated :)Also another exposure to think about I suppose is currency.

@Mohit Madaan  - "guaranteed", "no risk" and investments do not mix well :)Add foreign currency fluctuations and it will be hard to get 9% in my opinion.

Another of my favorite charts shows currency in circulation (put out by the Federal Reserve itself).

Your talking high-end luxury, and "tiny", these are not 2 things that pair well, kind of like pineapple and peanut-butter.  

FDR signed Executive Order 6102 which required Americans to deliver their gold to the government in exchange for currency, and then the government subsequently inflated that currency. 

It is by far, the cheapest way to transfer money from one currency to another.