I wasn’t prepared to lose so much of my savings as carrying cost basically I paid for the tenants to live there for 3 months + my own living expenses in that time.

I would like to think it is worth it, and that I could run a business model that serves fewer customers really well rather than deliver basic services at scale.  

We follow a similar model as @Bill B. and with similar results, except our properties are from the 60s, so we gut them and rehab from the studs up, basically resetting the clock. 

I was specifically interested in his 2nd plan which was "Building wealth through single-family homes" where he basically says you save enough to buy your first property along with enough for other fees and then you just keep saving the money you make from that property along with some money you save from your job and once you have enough money you buy your next property and then you basically just keep repeating that until you have your desired amount of properties.

Since you are out of the country and seem inexperienced, when buying condos you also have to assess the viability and strength of the HOA, pending litigation and/or assessments, and parking per unit.

Take a one of my basic rentals - rents for $1250/mo - PITI is ~750 - CapEx/repairs ~100/mo - so say cashflow is $400/mo or $4800/year.

Here is a CSS Decision Diagram flowchart intended to bring together all the various questions when assessing the benefits of a Cost Segregation Study (via a professional or DIY).FYI - You can do a CSS for ~$400, ask @Malik Javed how.

It will familiarize you with the basic terminology and benefits.

The benefit of old homes imo is that I go in and redo all of the systems and have basically a brand new house that I know was done right bc I oversaw everything.Most new homes are built with cheaper materials than the homes built in 1900.

The upgrade basically put a target on my back with the fire marshall as he came by to inspect the work and found that there were a few compliance issues.