Maybe I could enlist Uncle Sam to speak to the appraiser for me!

I can’t speak for inspection but being a (successful) real estate agent takes time as well as a lot of effort.

You should speak to a lender first and see if how much in loans you can qualify for and then compare that amount to the neighborhoods and property types in Los Angeles.

I feel like this should be prefaced  with the fact that I understand the nuisances cranes/construction cause via traffic and everything else (I, too, live in UTC).That said, I think those who incessantly complain about the issue and seek legislative change to stop it are almost always some combination of selfish, shortsighted, and/or stupid.Typically speaking, you should not mind cranes or construction in areas where you invest for a few reasons - I’m not sure that environmental variation is among the most important/obvious.What is obvious, though, is the fact that cranes/construction are pretty good evidence that you’ve placed yourself in the path of progress.

There's also not much, relatively speaking, of it, so what does come up for sale is poorly priced relative to potential profit.

Is there any value in asking for rental history or referrals if they are all based outside the US and may not speak English? 

@Raul Velazquez Jr Everyone is different - some with an accounting background or general knowledge about accounting can handle tax prep on their own with one, maybe two properties.Others like to put systems in place and hire out right away, to free up there time to spend on more valuable tasks and actions.If the latter describes you, I would say start speaking with real estate savvy CPAs ASAP.

The numbers I speak of are the ones with "$$$" in front. 

@Jason Todd First off, I would say to speak with your title/escrow company to make sure they can handle this type of transaction.

@Ryan Moore Speaking purely from a conforming loan perspective, it is definitely doable.