If I am a U.S. citizen living in the the U.S. and wanted to invest in the Philippines, what should I be aware of, as far as, taxes and legal documents?

If it is legal, marijuana production is a perfect use case.

I have used hard money in the past to fund my flips and I’m trying to avoid that if possible due to the initial cost of the loan (my hard money lender charges $1500 in fees at closing ($500 for appraisal + $1000 in “legal fees”, I’ve never gotten clarification on exactly what that is) Plus 2 points at closing.  

The formula(s) would look like:Potential Gross Income (PGI)  = full rents + any other income at 100% occupancyminus Vacancy & Collection Losses (8-10%) is typically usedequals your Effective Gross Income (EGI)Then you subtract your operating expenses (taxes, insurance, management & legal fees, repairs, utilities, lawn service, pest control, etc., and a reserve for capex) to get your Net Operating Income (NOI)From your calculated NOI, you can really start digging deep:Subtract your debt service from your NOI to get your cash flowDivide your NOI by the acquisition cost to get your cap rateTake your NOI, add the reserve for capex back in, then subtract your mortgage interest, to get your taxable incomeDivide your NOI by your debt service to get your debt coverage ratio (tells you how many times will your NOI will cover your debt/mortgage payment).

I know people that have legal service dogs just so they can bring the dog places and not be questioned ie the mall.  

What is the permit process like?

We're not in Indiana but have purchased real estate there and need a reliable Indiana attorney to give legal advice.

If you're doing 203k, then everything is being done the "official" way with gov't permits and all that.

And you cannot legally screen the way it sounds like you might want to.Not many buyers study the neighborhood believe it or not.

Search through the Sedgwick county website and you’ll be able to find both recently sold and the current appraised value the county does taxes on as well as work done where permits were pulled.