I don't have an answer for you, but I'm curious to see what others will say. I'm also curious as to why you want to try something like this. Do you have a personal connection to this property somehow? Is there a reason you would prefer to own a building in the US as opposed to the UK or as opposed to investing in a real estate fund?
One problem you may face is that US credit histories don't carry over to the UK and vice versa. I'm an American living in the UK, and even though I'd been using credit cards responsibly for 20+ years in the States, I was advised to wait at least 6 months before applying for one here. Then I got a credit limit on the new card that is lower than I even realised was possible. I'd like to buy a house next year, but I wonder how the mortgage process will go.
When I was still in the States, I rented a large house together with several housemates. Our landlord lived in Greece and came back to visit once a year. He trusted a friend to look after the house, but maintenance tended to be done poorly or not at all. After about a decade of renting the place out to various people, it was a bit rundown. The roof was leaking in multiple places, tiles were coming up in the kitchen, an interior door had fallen off, some glass was cracked, and the garden was completely overrun with weeds. We reported some issues and got a few things fixed, but the maintenance person tended to just ignore us. After the landlord passed away, I heard his widow came back to visit and try to clean up the place to sell. She got some work done, but the house is still rented out. Anyway, the point is, if you're going to buy a place to rent out while you're in another country, you need a good plan and someone local you can really trust.