I am a new investor who's just made my first purchase near the Johns Hopkins campus (medical and Bayview) and aim to gather more information from the more seasoned investor in this area.

After all, you should always aim to manage your property like a business, and prepare for the time when you expand your portfolio, and move on to your next property.

I wouldn't summarize it as sales, at all, I see it as part human-centered design, part strategy development and execution, you wont just be selling a home, you will be analyzing the product, finding its strengths, deeply understanding the buyer- what they are trying to accomplish, what their need is and how they measure success in buying a home and aligning your actions and resources to make sure the product(home you are listing) is both buyable and discoverable.

I recommend reading the BP book "The Book on Rental Property Investing" - gives you a front-to-back overview and some high water marks to aim for.

Here's a chart to help you visualize where you should to aim to be at:There are two ways to improve your credit utilization ratio: 1) pay down balance, or 2) increase your credit limits. 

I realize that this is market specific (we live in Indianapolis if it helps at all), but is there a target amount you suggest aiming at?

I assume that if I do make it to the US, I gotta find a full time/part job in the meantime in order to sustain myself financially aside from real estate (I don’t have a formal career in any field)A few important things to consider:I don’t really have a specific area in the US real estate market I’m aiming for.I have some savings which might help me settle in for a few months or more.I also own a EU citizenship if that matters at all.I’d really appreciate if you can advise me about my situation.

These steps create the foundation for them and when they have finished them - at that point - choosing their property is almost instantaneous and, if I've done my job properly in helping them, they are not scared or nervous any more they are hungry; they have taken the time to firstly understand what their own questions are and research the answers within an accountable time-frame ( so they don't disappear in the vortex of investor-paralysis) - bounce them off a knowledgeable professional in the field and answer questions that I ask that they hadn't thought to plan for and we build a template of their own portfolio to accurately and quickly measure properties and financing products against that is tailored to their own risk tolerance and life situations. 

LA's an expensive market, and even $100K limits your options for an investment property because you'll be required to put at least 20% down -- and most likely 25%.So I think the biggest question is: what exactly are you aiming to achieve with this next investment?

I suggest finding out the capacity in gallons and the heat output measured in BTU's, and do some research to find out if it's sufficient.