We are living in Phuket Thailand currently and this year I utilized the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion to not pay taxes on the first 120k of income. 

Out HQ is based there, so I am happy to connect and point you in the right direction. 

Given your current straightforward W-2 tax situation, a $5,000 annual fee for a real estate-focused CPA might be excessive. 

In a recent discussion on the Strategic Success Podcast,  local investors Courtney Fricke, Stephen Keighery and Braden Smith shared valuable insights on the current market dynamics.

With the current interest rate, getting 100% of your cash out is definitely a win in my opinion.

I'm not familiar with non qualified mortgages, I'd generally assume the less mainstream/vanilla the borrower, the higher the costs and rates, why would non QM instead be lower costs?   

I am fine living in it for the first year or two and have a current roommate that will rent from me for as long as we live there, so I am not too worried about negative cash flow in the first year.

More on how that is calculated below.

Are there any verbal agreements or arrangements between the current Landlord and Tenant?

Something good to keep in mind too is to keep a contingency in your budgets to ensure you've always got enough funded for the rehabs.Once you get a few under your belt then your LTV's will be higher and your rates will be lower.