At the end of the day it's about what fits you best and who has the right bells and whistles at the right price point for you.....and conversely you meeting their requirements to borrow.Provided you don't prove yourself to be an idiot or an unacceptable lending risk and they will be just as eager to lend to you as you are to borrow.That said, until you hand them a financial statement and a deal they can evaluate for lending purposes,  you will get some very vague hypotheticals for the most part.  

Marko,Good luck with your conversion! 

You're not going to find any sort of a 'buy a duplex and have the rent of one half pay the enitre mortgage'.For example, when we moved to East Sac, we bought a fixer upper high water bungalow, and completed the basement conversion into an apartment.

NoOhio Revised Code4735.01 Real estate broker definitions.As used in this chapter:(A) "Real estate broker" includes any person, partnership, association, limited liability company, limited liability partnership, or corporation, foreign or domestic, who for another, whether pursuant to a power of attorney or otherwise, and who for a fee, commission, or other valuable consideration, or with the intention, or in the expectation, or upon the promise of receiving or collecting a fee, commission, or other valuable consideration does any of the following:(1) Sells, exchanges, purchases, rents, or leases, or negotiates the sale, exchange, purchase, rental, or leasing of any real estate;(2) Offers, attempts, or agrees to negotiate the sale, exchange, purchase, rental, or leasing of any real estate;(3) Lists, or offers, attempts, or agrees to list, or auctions, or offers, attempts, or agrees to auction, any real estate;(4) Buys or offers to buy, sells or offers to sell, or otherwise deals in options on real estate;(5) Operates, manages, or rents, or offers or attempts to operate, manage, or rent, other than as custodian, caretaker, or janitor, any building or portions of buildings to the public as tenants;(6) Advertises or holds self out as engaged in the business of selling, exchanging, purchasing, renting, or leasing real estate;(7) Directs or assists in the procuring of prospects or the negotiation of any transaction, other than mortgage financing, which does or is calculated to result in the sale, exchange, leasing, or renting of any real estate;(8) Is engaged in the business of charging an advance fee or contracting for collection of a fee in connection with any contract whereby the broker undertakes primarily to promote the sale, exchange, purchase, rental, or leasing of real estate through its listing in a publication issued primarily for such purpose, or for referral of information concerning such real estate to brokers, or both, except that this division does not apply to a publisher of listings or compilations of sales of real estate by their owners;(9) Collects rental information for purposes of referring prospective tenants to rental units or locations of such units and charges the prospective tenants a fee.

I can help you with "shadow inventory" and I can give you some powerful guidance to help you find private money.    

Here are a few recommendations for you:Find and connect with other BP members that are in your area: http://www.biggerpockets.com/meet Set up keyword alerts to be notified of the topics that interest you: http://www.biggerpockets.com/alerts Read Beginner’s Guide: http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing Check out BP Podcasts: http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/category/podcast/ If you wish to tag someone in the conversation on the forum, type @ followed by their name and then select that person below.

It is harder to build trust and network as I find people are somewhat skeptical about your staying power and ability to manage from overseas.  

If you haven't yet- be sure to setup some "Keyword Alerts" to get into conversation in your target area.Seeya around!

Maybe you can tell us a little more about the market, what's hot, your typical buyer/seller, etc. and get the conversation going.

And the notion that Brandon and Ben had 5 minutes for a substantive conversation about anything is just silly...My dog also prefers Heather, I think :)