Myself, Melvyn Mangion, live on the island of Malta where it is within the culture of Maltese citizens to purchase their property.

I am a retired 63-year-old military veteran considering giving a rental property to my only son, a 22-year-old senior in college.

My goal is only to make sure I have the wherewithal to support myself financially during my senior years.

For all you know, your cousins girlfriends dad is the senior underwriter at some private bank that's just aching to lend!

I am one of the senior coaches in creative financing on BPSearch here "Brian Gibbons Thanks" and you find hundreds of BP folks happy with me. 

My family has owned property there since the early 2000’s, some of my close family members have become full time residents/ CR citizens during that time and what we’ve seen over and over again during the last 20+ years is that most US citizens leave after a few years.

There is Federal insurance (Fair Plan in CA) Federal National, Universal and Citizens are your only choices in Florida.I'm actively lobbying through MBA.

Really it helps validate my position going forward which is to only look at a) for buy-and-hold, true partnership JVs where the on ground partner has skin in the game, b) notes (and I buy your point on lack of leverage being a problem...but I'm reading up on hypothecation...yes I'm foreign-based but still US citizen so I don't believe any unique tax issues for me), c) fix-and-flip partnerships.

I am a Canadian citizen and my wife is a US citizen. 

This was one of the reasons she was able to retire last year when the county hospital threatened to fire people with less seniority than her.