@Paul LucentiYour journey shows the power of learning from past experiences and refining your strategy.

And equally for the buyer, if you want to renovate and refinance or cash out, wouldn't you have to pay off the entire mortgage at that point and the bank would know it was always the buyer paying off and not the seller?

Quote from @Robby Sanchez: can you refinance at the end of an interest only loan into another interest only loan? 

If I were in your shoes, I’d look at the BRRRR strategy (Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat) to stretch your liquidity while building equity and cash flow.

If I find a deal on an area I would consider living when I move back I would like to be able to pull the trigger and possibly refinance into an owner-occupier loan once I move back to the US.  

With that strategy, I'm not a real estate agent BUT I am also reading a book called "BUY, REHAB,RENT, REFINANCE, REPEAT.

My advice would be, if you truly want to learn the business, lease it up, refinance, pull some money out, and go on to the next one.

Nicholas,The one piece of advice I would give is refinance the Condo before you start renting it out. 

Do the construction and then appraise and refinance.  

Once construction is complete you could refinance out of the construction loan into a DSCR loan.