I'd recommend you seek a real estate attorney who is familiar with  real estate investing and start there.

As a listing agent, I let my seller know it can trigger the due on sale clause and they lose control of the home but still responsible for the mortgage if buyer doesn’t pay, so most aren’t interested unless it’s a special situation where they really need out and no real buyers out there.

I mean, nothing is foolproof...but that will get you started in the right direction. 

My goal is to become a long-term rental investor, but I would like to start by doing a couple of fix and flip properties here in San Antonio.

Hey Francis,This is a great place to start! 

What are some of the considerations or pitfalls to this strategy where we would start renting a single family residence out, then convert to our primary residence after ~5 years.

If I sell, I pay off the debt, lose the asset, and have no more monthly income from the property but I would be DEBT FREE, which is very enticing.

You dont buy right you will lose .

I see a lot of unnecessary risk in investing in another country.If you still want to do it, I would start off with something on the lower end that is still nice to see how it goes for a couple of years before making a major investment out of country.I would thoroughly research all expenses such as taxes insurance, permits etc.

. =) Looking to start investing in Section 8 and was wondering if anyone had any horror stories, success stories or advice on where to start.