If you invest in RE, whether active or passive(management team, syndications, crowdfunding), I'd love the chance to quickly explain the structure and hear your thoughts on what might need to be improved.

We're willing to live almost anywhere in the greater Sacramento area based on what we can afford, provided of course that the property is in a decent neighborhood that has a good chance of attracting responsible tenants.As for budget, I believe we could get a conventional loan for properties up to $600k, but my strong preference is to find a distressed property (or seller!)

By any chance are there any agents on this site from there?

My belief is that you will be challenged to realize a 10% savings loan n your first effort and there is some chance it will cost more than if you used a GC.  

There's a good chance the issue(s) you face has already been discussed and answered.Ask questions in the appropriate forum.

Hi Aubrey,International lenders don't exist for real estate in that no lender in one country will give you a mortgage loan in another country.A good service to estimate revenue in Costa Rica or everywhere in the world for that matter is Aidna.

It's an estimated cash on cash return given current rental rates subtract expenses assuming 7% interest rate, 10% management fee, 5% repairs, 5% capex and other expenses like mortgage, insurance, tax. it's a estimate to tell you what properties to analyze vs ignoreyou can see the are pockets of negative returns as well as pockets of positive return. this is to supplement the data @Devin Conley provided

My estimate is 90% of the time we obtain a tenant in our first open house.  

Does anyone have suggestions for retroactively estimating your time? 

There's a good chance the issue(s) you face has already been discussed and answered.Ask questions in the appropriate forum.