There are definitely some hiccups with it being a small company, but I do have to say that their response time on tickets is really fast.  

Get in contact with a 1031 exchange company during the transaction and roll it into another property perhaps.

With your experience and possible skillset, perhaps finding a company to sponsor you for a green card may be a better option? 

That said, here is how I would proceed...For some background, I used to run an STR management company in SATX and we peaked at about 35 properties under management. 

That could be your PM company if you plan to hire one. 

I have a few companies I work with to lease units for their workers and I don't want to charge them fees - and I certainly don't want to auto email them anything.  

if anything then I would set a flat fee to pay them for their service and then if you do find a property that offers buyers agents money, in which almost all I have seen still do...then I would have the title company back out the amount you decided on and the agent gets the remainder of the amount of commission that's left over. 

I'm from Louisville KY and traveled to Bloomington for a Big Box company as a trainer.

I work for a flooring company as a designer and meet contractors and people who flip homes regularly so it has me flirting with the idea of doing it myself.My question is, how did you get your spouse to be on board with real estate investing?

Plus, there's huge appreciation potential here since there's so many companies moving/developing here (Intel headquarters, Amazon, FB, Google, Nationwide, and recently Anduril).