Then the whole form which is witnessed and sometimes notarized (depends on state) is placed in safe deposit box.

Depending on your Japanese level, the most important thing for this may be finding one who speaks English (I communicate with my guy in Japanese).  

I would think it depends on your strategy.  

Obviously no one has a crystal ball and knows for sure, but since you would be here for a few years, keep in mind the refi process with a VA Loan which is an IRRL, is cheap and simple...so even if you buy now with no money down, use your $15k savings for some value add to the property, and then rates continue to decline, you'll be able to easily refi with a VA IRRL and drop your payment anyways before you go transition to LTR in the next few years.Lots to think about, plenty of ways to go about it, not right or wrong, just depends on your needs so reach out if you'd like any guidance...

It does looks like a decent STR possibility, LTR may be difficult to make work, but that depends on your numbers obviously.

You could probably expect between $1-4k for qualify service depending on what all services you need.

Its depends on you.

Not out of line depending on exactly what was needed and how extensive the cleaning, small repairs etc were 

@Matt Waggoner depends on the target pool of tenants your properties will attract.First, what you wrote doesn't violate Fair Housing, so you're legally fine (check with an attorney though).OPINIONOur company is in its 24th year and some of your requirements wouldn't work for us.1) Many 600 credit score tenants won't be able to find the info for 5 years of landlords.

They can be written off in one year depending on tax law updates.