I have been doing about the same here as far as saving and listening to the podcasts, I even ordered the BRRR book by David Greene and it is great so far.

@Lori Greene I've also been hesitant to use a HELOC for this reason.

So we are planning on moving to the US in about a year or so, basically when my husband will receive his green card.

As you can probably tell I am pretty green with this aspect of the industry, any help or advice would be appreciated. 

Then I got David Greenes book and I'm all in.

@Justin Greene stay above a 5 on areas with schools rated on https://www.greatschools.org/North of the river is great, some parts of independence, Lees Summit, Blue Springs and then if you’re a little more adventurous and want to get some appreciation-certain parts of the urban core.

Hi - I am listning to David Greens book on long- distance Real Estate investing.

Green Street is the gold-standard for independent research within the commercial real estate industry.

Have you read David Greene's book yet?

I would try to pay interest when possible because it means you own the asset yourself.Like David Greene says in an excellent Forbes article: if you keep growing you will have to bring in partners, equity partners, until then: pay interest!