I'm 68 and "retired", so do not want to commit to a BUSINESS and am not sure RE can be done as a "hobby" with great success.At present I trade currencies and options, but that is capital intensive and inconsistent income-wise.

how easy is to get an EIN if you are a foreign investor?  

I am in the Foreign Service so I do most of my research, purchases, maintenance, and property management from overseas.

My main concern is getting financing for foreigners...

@Noah Zielinski,we recently had a chat on a similar topic that may give you some ideas and some people to call out to:http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/12/topics/108738-foreigner-partnering-with-a-us-citizenBy the way, I think you posted some months back that you were going to travel to US around this time to look at properties.

Once I start making some deals I will file in my state of MA.You will still likely have to register the LLC as a foreign LLC within your home state.

Run a company that assists Foreign Nationals, both around the world and already in the United States, to gain residency in the U.S. through business investment.Some Challenges:Everything else!

All business expenses and assets are located in IL and IA.My questions is: Since I live in CA am I subject to a Foreign Entity Tax of $800/year?

but who was I to educate them on timber values.. that's why they hired an agent.but when your dealing direct  well that's a different matter.. and we can all say they are big boys etc etc.. folks here in the US are tend to be much softer than foreign investors just culturally..  

From what I gathered you need to have Foreign Qualifications to do business in any state, other than the one you're Inc. in.