For me, Pheonix is as foreign as Loveland... or Fayetteville, NC.

There are several ways these foreign candidates can pay their deposits to you - depending on where they are located.One of the most universal, though most expensive for both the transferor and transferee is a wire transfer from their bank to yours.  

Live in a foreign country for a year - buy a place to live in/fix up for 6 months to a year then hold as a rental or sell?  

I am glad to see other foreigners posting and I am not the only one haha Thanks

The other thing that I'm not 100% sure of is if I can write Canadian interest expenses off of US income when filing US taxes.Anyone else ever write off foreign financing expenses from US income?

@Adam RajniakWelcome.The US is the #1 country for foreign investors in real estate.

If you own property in a different state than your LLC, you'll have to register it in the state with the properties as a "foreign entity".

In panama there are many laws to protect the foreign investor.

I'm a real estate agent here in Columbus Ohio and I do work with a lot of California, Florida, and foreign investors who are looking to invest here so it definitely works, but you have to make sure to do the proper due diligence!

So, if you create an LLC in another state, you will likely need to register it as a foreign LLC in California.