That's why there are a ton of resources out there which can help you to turn away from PMs and towards being able to manage the rental properties yourself, with a certain level of automation brought to the process (ie. listing the property and publishing it to 10+ other major listing sites, comprehensive tenant screening applications which includes a nationwide criminal background check, credit check, eviction history check, and requires references for prior tenancy;  digital leases, payments/online rent collection, and automated maintenance tracking).

There are and will be more small scale operations in eastern Montana but it's people who already live here, currently own land, and are trying something new.

I'm assuming your son doesn't have the financial history to afford an owner occupied loan without a co-signer.

It also wouldn't hurt to ask for the "rent roll" or rental history and copies of the leases. 

Do you have a 2 year work history?

I'm actually thinking of not allowing them moving forward b/c I don't need to based on my track history. 

So is it safe to say that I should get pre- approved individually seeing that my LLC won’t have the history of financial statements most commercial lenders would require.

HOWEVER we have noticed that banks will not allow us to include the rental income as income when refinancing unless there is a two year history.

They may have determined you were not eligible for their loan program for something like occupancy, or maybe they determined you didn't have enough credit history.

I have met a couple investors here and they seem optimistic for investing in the Eastern Europe, at least in the next 2-3 years.