You have to establish some relationships and then cultivate them.

Some locations I’ve considered are Indianapolis, Kansas City, Dallas, Charlotte, and Baltimore, because they appear to be better suited price-wise for someone just getting into the game, and their rental markets seem stable and profitable.I’ll be in the US for about 4 weeks from the end of May to the middle of June, and in that time I hope to visit at least one potential location to meet with brokers, and try and establish a working relationship with an accountant and lawyer, and other investors.

Sounds like you have pursued establishing a solid base via 401K and conservative investments and then plan to continue to gobble up more good REI deals.

Next, "dry funding" has some serious issues even if you can find some idiot closing agent, good title is not established unless a buyer has good funds to close and escrowed funds are not good funds that a prior buyer is entitled to use.

What I want to know is, if I move there and get myself an established job history, with a 20% down payment and a proven income of ~$1200/mo, is it likely I could be approved for a 15yr loan?

While not actually written into IRS code, the 2 year holding period was essentially established by way of a written IRS ruling on the subject.

We have some funds w/ Guidant which now uses I-direct to establish the LLC.  

For example, a great way to start is to establish and build your credit worthiness.  

my husband and I just became real estate investors and are trying to establish our cash buyers list.. help....... we need some info, we put ads on craigslist made bandit signs.. no calls.. ughhhh. please any and all info will help...

This will let you know what you need to fix and will let the inspector know that you are an upstanding landlord who wants to do the right thing.I did this on my first rehab --> rent deal just before moving in my tenants and did have to fix a couple of small things, but it established a great relationship with the inspector which lasted over 15 years.