You need to spend a good 4 hours just calling different banks (credit unions) and finding out what their terms are for secondary or investment home helocs.

When you purchase a property, there needs to be A LOT of equity so that your buyer can purchase from you, pay for rehab, and still have enough equity left to be able to sell at a profit.So, if the value is $100,000, you buy at $50,000 - you sell at $60,000 - your buyer spends $20,000 to fix it up and they sell it at $100,000 meaning they can make a $20,000 profit. 

So if I spend $12K to furnish the home (including all kitchen items, bedding, towels, etc.), I need to know the furnished rental can clear an extra $1K/Mo after expenses vs. unfurnished.- Also, in my market (for 30+ day stays) it’s important that each unit has laundry, parking space, small kitchen and approx. 1 bathroom per bedroom.

When I book hundreds of rooms at a shot, they tend to give me the best pricing, since DUH, it's vegas, they aren't making their money off the rooms, but off the gambling, the liquor, etc. and Im putting several hundred corporate people in their property who are all going to spend money.  

Typically, the maintainers are staying in hotels where they are spending anywhere from $1,400-1,800 per month on a basic hotel room.

I want to spend the next 8 months becoming as knowledgeable about the topic as possible, and apply to some commercial real estate companies before I return. 

In your situation, an agent may spend some time sending you info, listings and such since you’re still out of country, but if they’re any good they will require one before actually spending time scheduling and showing properties.

I know everyone is friends now, but do yourself a favor and spend a few bucks on a good lawyer.

We would spend weekends snaking neighborhoods and looking for open houses (because agents would try to double end the listing and they'd have open houses before listing the property on the MLS).

I am going to spending a week out in AZ at months end to drive by current listings to get a feel for the area.