One of them wants us to sign an exclusivity agreement.

@Lewis AndersonThere are a number if provisions that may be available to you such as foreign earned income exclusion and foreign housing exclusion.

The hipster crowd likes the exposed brick/industrial style and will command a premium over the cookie cutter units. 

For rentals, you just need to find out if it's in a decent area, what the cashflow will be, and what the economy around it is like - is it diverse or is it dominated by only one industry?

Yes, there are lazy brokers/agents, just like any industry there are stand-out performers and those that think it's going to be easy.

Currently I work as a industrial painter while my wife is going through the process of joining the Navy here in southern Illinois I have about 60k I've saved I'm 24 and have been looking into getting started in real estate investing.

- That is the primary question most people ask in the real estate industry.

Similar to a home office, etc. not tied to a particular property, but to the overall business You are right that the cash out could be treated as business interest, but not deducted exclusively against the property you took the money out of.

Your experience in both real estate and the banking industry gives us great insight on both industries. 

I am really going back on forth on which industry I would like to go into.