Judges have been mostly supporting the "lenders" side in court actions, but, occasionally, one will find in favor of the borrower. 

i only see suitably distressed properties hit the MLS very occasionally. 

I've been eyeing land in Central and West Texas, and they occasionally have some interesting opportunities, but some of them seem too good to be true. 

Yes pretty common, minimum downpayment is generally 25% (occasionally that 20% will work) but just depends on your situation.  

A way around the whole issue is something we occasionally consider.  

Those things can and will hurt your monthly KPIs occasionally and sometimes for long periods. 

Maybe an occasional HVAC.

You can simply use a free or occasionally paid coworking space when a meeting room is needed.To quickly zoom in on needing a meeting room: a thing to have in mind is that meetings here in Spain a lot of times are done during lunch with a decent priced menu of the day (the Spaniards immediately know what I mean).

Heck, I hand wash my dishes mostly at home anyway.I am targeting a February move-in.

Build a reliable team on the ground, plan occasional visits, and trust your general contractor to handle the day-to-day.