I had previous told them I will meet them on the evening of Jan 3 to give them the keys.

Consider Lowell as an opportunity.Check out the Start Here page http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthereCheck out BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginner's Guide - A fantastic free book that walks through many of the key topics of real estate investing.Check out the free BiggerPockets Podcast - A weekly podcast with interviews and a ton of great advice.

Most of my turn key guys that tried rental Guarantees and maintenance ended up not liking it.

You have multiple choices.But a key question is "is there a mortgage on the property".

The key is to be consistent about it and make offers everday.

Generally, a stay will be obtained and you can the continue with a FC, it's also a good time to show that there is no equity beyond the exemption, offer a tad bit for the keys and take a deed in lieu if that is appropriate. :)

Yes, much has been written about option deals here, probably too much (LOL) but just search and do some reading or wait, I think several have Lease Option as key word alerts and they should be swarming soon.

There are some great emerging markets in your area.Check out the Start Here page http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthereCheck out BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginner's Guide - A fantastic free book that walks through many of the key topics of real estate investing.Check out the free BiggerPockets Podcast - A weekly podcast with interviews and a ton of great advice.

Sharia LawOnce you find what countries have British common law then you can drill down on the specifics of ownership and if there are any quirky restrictions, but for the most part, British Common law jurisdictions allow fee simple title and little restriction on foreign ownership.The next step of course is determining if those jurisdictions have the specific growth drivers that coincide with your investment philosophy.

In many states dual agency is not even allowed by law.A broker or agent in many cases can still get the whole commission by having the seller or buyer as the client and having the other party as the customer performing "ministerial acts" only for them.Ministerial acts for example can be filling out a contract but not answering questions from the customer on what's the lowest they will accept and other key data the seller might have given in a client capacity.