So, I no longer live in those areas and am very thankful to finally have insurance. 

Focus on absentee owners and start with the ones who live the farthest away and only own one property in the area since they have the least use for the property.You can also drive for dollars, looking for anomalies of disrepair and then look them up in the tax records and use a site like Spokeo to do cheap skip tracing.

Be sure to hold a hefty reserve to handle on-going maintenance, capex, taxes, and insurance.

There are two reasons this is a bad idea.Investing with an SDIRA (assuming it is not a Roth) will often result in paying significantly more taxes. 

To navigate the nuance in the laws properly for compliance and to accurately structure our LLC, I am looking to consult with an attorney who knows immigration + business + tax laws. 

Rentals generate passive income, so an S-Corp offers no added tax benefit.

If you live there 2 years or more before selling you will be exempt from tax on the 1st $250k in profit which is a nice bonus. 

Use umbrella insurance as an additional safeguard, especially if you opt not to form an LLC.Avoid S-Corp taxation for rentals, as rental income is passive and not subject to self-employment tax. S

Comps, vrbo/airbnb and finally pinterest is your friend.

I 100% endorse adding in the escrows for taxes and insurance to set the buyer/borrower up for success.