Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston and Nashville all have nearly 5% more home investors now than during the boom.Metro Phoenix was the second-fastest-growing area for new residents with more than 96,000 in 2018, according to Land Advisors' analysis of the latest federal census and labor statistics.The Valley is expected to draw 55,000 more residents by September, boosting the area’s population to 5 million.Almost 70,000 new jobs were created in the Phoenix area during 2019, ranking it the fourth-highest for U.S. employment growth."

I would like to shake this 'paralysis by analysis' and make 2020 the year of new beginnings! 

That said, your first real estate investment could be your primary home (I know this article says "retirement" but really... it can be a plan of attack for any stage of investing). 

Take a look at this rough analysis below:$1400: GSR($70): Vacancy - 5%($210): Repairs & CapEx - 15% combined($140): Management - 10%, always include even if self-managing at first($208): Property Taxes($100): Insurance - my estimate($709): Debt Service - $180k FMV, 20% down, 4.5% for 30 years($37): monthly cash flowIf you could get it closer to $100-110k, this might be a good candidate for a flip, assuming your ARV and reno numbers are accurate.

Any fellow members know at which stage a foreign buyer must be physically present in the US so as to complete the closing?  

But spend $$ and then try and hit me for the $$, I would have a harder time saying YESThis is what I would propose at this stage......give me all the receipts of actual cost incurred and I'll agree to pay half of it.

Let's take a look at your analysis anyway:You should expect to put down 20-25% on any investment property.

The home had not been updated in decades and I gave them an analysis of what we could sell it for on the market knowing it would be targeted to investors.

I am currently in the refinance stage of the BRRRR strategy.

Have you done a full rental analysis?