I don't profess to be anywhere near as experienced as Emma, but I'll put in my two cents on experiences which have made the path to buying property in the US easier.
The easiest way to get finance is to get a line of credit in Australia. Interest only is an option if you are stretching it. I have been advised US banks right now will not loan less than $100k. That is a positive for investors because if you are going for properties <$100k you will not be up against locals who want to buy cheap houses because they can't get finance. But it's hard for foreign nationals to get credit in the US unless you actually have a credit rating there. Personally I wouldn't bother.
Opening an American bank account will save you a lot of hassles when it comes to showing proof of funds and actually transfering the money to buy property. You do not need a tax ID number to open a US account, they get you to fill out a W8-BEN. It's MUCH easier to open a bank account in person than from Australia, but I understand it is doable to open one from here.
Summerlin is the number one area in Vegas, hands down. If anything, you pay a premium for the name. But the border areas can still be a bit dicey. I like the idea of Henderson and properties are cheap but it is quite a fair way away from downtown Vegas plus the areas you go through to get to it are not really desirable. Having said that, the views that Henderson has is magnificent and it's a nice new community.
Google Earth is your friend. If you can't personally check out the city (strongly recommended), at least check out the area on Google Earth. In Vegas, there are nice pockets but are surrounded by not so nice areas. I understand it's the same in other cities. The saying "if it's too good to be true ..." absolutely is correct. I went from looking at $40k properties to $70k+ properties just due to location and amenities etc. Figure that down the track the nicer properties will produce less hassles plus appreciation will be higher. Do you really want to buy a property that will give you no return because it might not be rented out for six months of the year? Also beware of condo conversions, these have a bad rap.
One really good forum to check out is city-data.com. The posters are local in whichever city/state you are looking at and can help out or you can search past posts. It's helped me when searching for specific streets/HOAs etc and what they are like. If you are looking at Vegas and worried about crime check out
http://www.lvmpd.com/crimeviewcommunity/default.asp and
http://www.donohueteam.com/Crime/index.html. I've checked other states and they have similar websites to check out crime rates if you are looking at other states.
Getting a real estate agent on board that you can trust if you are heading down that track (ie not going it alone) is so important. I know that sounds funny when they are so untrustable in Australia but they can be found in the US because the laws are a lot more stringent. A good real estate agent can also provide contacts for anything you need for your property so say you find a property that needs repair work, what would seem hard can become easy and gets you ahead of other investors if you are prepared to buy one that needs repairs.
Hope this helps. I've spent hours on the internet looking for info so if I'm happy to help out others.
