Ideally it would, if that's how the end buyer wants the property delivered (i.e. vacant).

Ideally, the tenants will pay you enough rent so that you'll live free, or close to it.

The individual Homeowner has to pay for it.

They might have money but still trash the place or live in an unsanitary manner.FYI there's no credit scoring in many of these developing countries, and anyway the notion of "individual" credit often doesn't exist in these places, at least for the masses-families hold joint bank accounts, one person in a large city remits money to relatives in rural area.

I know pension funds, hedge funds, insurance companies, etc invest in this, but I was surprised to hear that individuals can do this as well.

It seems to me that a great approach to finding the right mentor is to use BP's "collegue request" feature.The more time I spend on these pages, the more certain individuals stand out.

Short term, less than a year, interest only loans are fine for certain purposes but an I/O loan on a longer term basis is not the norm nor would it be a good idea long term.True private financing is something you negotiate with that individual, the rate, term, amortization and other requirements would be set as agreed.

Ideally web based, but would settle for a desktop application.

Ideally you would have greater success if all the properties were being handled by the same agent or at least by the same bank.

I feel that active cash flow investing would get individuals to their monthly income goals much quicker then 401k type investing.