Perhaps as a test, steal some pics if you can from those other business models / places in the country where people are pulling this off successfully, and throw some ads on up Craigslist and see what kind of response you get for the rents you're asking.

Thank you for your (and your wife's) service to our country. 

I’d really love to connect with people who invested in foreign countries (especially Latin America) or perhaps get book recommendations or start a meet up in the Bay Area for people who are interested in similar.

But yes, I have thought about kids getting knocked down by goats, bee stings, scratched by barbed wire, and all the assorted dangers of iiving in the country.

That is where I think we want to focus most as we ultimately want to have majority of our income coming from rental properties all over the country and world. 

I was out of the country and was doing my own PM.... had no handymen on call and my tenants didn’t know what to do.

hi , saw this post and want to jump in.In my eyes, and I have been investing in US real estate for years now - most American real estate brokers and agents are providing great service to out if state / out if country investors.After you define what you want to buy and where, start communicating with local real estate agents. they can be found everywhere online including here at BPhope that helps

Other speculative markets around the country saw the same collapse.  

FSBO and Expired listingsDoes anyone else around the country run a similar campaign?

I am glad to hear that a lot of people from other countries are investing in the US!