The most useful switch I made was from a vendor who kept insisting the water was fine (it wasn't and no, the chemicals didn't just need more time) to a true pro who doesn't gouge us for maintenance and does a consistently great job.

Since you're a citizen but you live and work abroad you'd still qualify mostly for second homes occupancy or investor non owner occupancy (primary is hard to claim if your job requires you to be physically next to the office as an example so an underwriter isnt going to readily believe you unless you can get HR to write you a letter to state you're remotely capable of earning this income/job duties anywhere).Hopefully that helps let me know if you have further questions into mortgage planning.

If we stay with our high-paying jobs, we can carry the properties, but we(spouse and I) are too afraid to invest in Class B or C neighborhoods.

Also, focus on 2 years of job/income stability.Class D Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, all cashflow with little, maybe even negative, relative rent & value appreciationVacancy Est: 20%+ should be used to cover nonpayment, evictions & damages.Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores under 560 (almost 30% probability of default), little to no good tradelines, lots of collections & chargeoffs, recent evictions.

@Paul Shannon Great job asking about the fee structure.

I had to remind them a few times of deadlines but they did a good job overall.

If that wasn't the publics opinion we would have a ton more great jobs in Oregon and many other places.  

As long as you focus on areas with strong job growth and analyze the deal carefully, I think you will be in great shape. 

GC walked off the job.

I think the reason that Grocapitus or Neal Bawa were not getting much response either speaks to their level of participation in BP (Neal obviously doesn't spend much time here), or the fact that unhappy LPs were shy, or happy LPs were shy, or BP does a poor job of really getting posts noticed.