I will add that you definitely do not need to be near your investments, but it makes things a lot easier when you first start off. 

They asked me to empty my savings, max out cards and then finally to take out a loan.

I poured my life saving into it and make it a duplex.

For instance, many tribal lands are exempt from state and local property taxes, which can obviously lead to significant savings.

Hi everyone,I’m new to the U.S. and excited to start my real estate journey!

Not nearly as far as it did when I got started... ugh I hate that I am now old enough to say such a thing.

Make the start date of the lease contingent and effective upon closing. 

 just start generating leads and start talking to people and when you’re not doing that educate yourself also hire a mentor just basically get active..

But neither do you, yet you started with:"Short answer is "yes"  - which I consider misleading.And you manipulated the OP's question to fit your agenda.

There will be many situations where you can help a homeowner save their home -  however, in other situations they just want to sell quickly which provides a wholesale, fix/flip, buy/hold opportunity for you.