I am currently residing in Bulgaria, Varna, a mid-sized city on the Black Sea coast (500 thousand people, third by size in the country).My goal is to buy an apartment to rent.

The advantage is that you can pay it back whenever you want within the 5 years and the interest goes back to your own retirement not some 3rd party lender.

If this is someone you have worked with before or someone you trust and have confidence in then you should form a legal partnership including a partnership agreement that clearly conveys what each of you is responsible for and how you will each be held accountable and the penalties in the event that one party is not doing whats expected of them.

Have you dealt with and/or in between two parties who don't want the same thing for the house?

Most will find a personal injury attorney that will take their case on contingency – meaning the attorney will charge very little, if anything, upfront, but take a third or more of whatever they collect.And here is the secret of using an LLC to protect your personal assets – by “hiding” them!

I started doing third-party consulting and am now in-house with a developer.

The more dinners parties my wife and I go to the more I realize that we (us on here) are the exception, the minority.

To me, an interested party would take you due diligence to the next step and verify your assumptions, stop by the property, and assess the area.

In general I would say that if you are comfortable with bookkeeping, do a good job screening, you have a property in good condition, and you take the time to properly educate your tenant on communication and maintenance procedures, expectations of both parties, and responsibilities, you'll have no problem self managing 1 duplex on your own with very little time dedication.Typically you will probably spend 15-20 min a month on bookkeeping and entering transactions, and that is about it.

@Melissa RobbinsHey I’m late to the party but this was an interesting thread to me.