Sorry i didn't want to have such a long post but i wanted to answer some of your questions. 1st thing using a realtor is ok but you'll be able to find alot better deals through Wholesalers or by individually marketing to sellers who need to sale their houses.

Would need those two numbers to have any idea if it might make a good rehab project.Lastly, you mentioned that the MLS listing indicated that the house was occupied by a former owner; but you then said it was occupied by a tenant who is not the former owner.

The time of year is also helpful, and of course unmowed lawns are an indicator, but doesn't help in winters.

The individual Homeowner has to pay for it.

Check the deed and trace it back deed to prior deed until you get to a point where the last person likely purchased the property for a price that indicated he likely got title insurance.

They might have money but still trash the place or live in an unsanitary manner.FYI there's no credit scoring in many of these developing countries, and anyway the notion of "individual" credit often doesn't exist in these places, at least for the masses-families hold joint bank accounts, one person in a large city remits money to relatives in rural area.

Return on revenue (or return on sales) is an indication of operating profit margins (NOI/revenue) and has nothing to do with how a deal is financed.For a typical rental, using the 50% rule, your ROR is going to be about 50% (not quite, because things like vacancy and capex aren't expensed, but you get the idea).Now, if you're asking about your ROI or your IRR, those are theoretically infinite, as you are earning a positive return on zero investment (the denominator of the return ratio is zero).

I know pension funds, hedge funds, insurance companies, etc invest in this, but I was surprised to hear that individuals can do this as well.

It seems to me that a great approach to finding the right mentor is to use BP's "collegue request" feature.The more time I spend on these pages, the more certain individuals stand out.

Short term, less than a year, interest only loans are fine for certain purposes but an I/O loan on a longer term basis is not the norm nor would it be a good idea long term.True private financing is something you negotiate with that individual, the rate, term, amortization and other requirements would be set as agreed.