Initially I’m wanting to start in the local Chattanooga/North Georgia area

I'm local to Richmond, and work downtown, would love to connect.

I’m also an active member of the local landlord association in Joliet (JRLA), which has been a great resource for networking and education.

I have been on New Western's deal list as well as another bigger local company and everytime I underwrite these deals there is very very minimal left on the bone let alone contingency funds for going over budget on the flip...

Your property taxes will also be higher as you can't use the home owner's grant.There might be local RE meet ups in Vancouver area where you can go and listen to what others have to say. 

Hopefully, this is a useful example of what’s achievable with out-of-state investing, even with no local connections. 

I mean by safest is on the volatility, for example STRs have many different factors, seasons of the year, local government regs and much more.

Localized knowledge for an agent or investor is needed to answer most of these questions.

One of the key challenges I’m facing is understanding the financing options available to someone without Canadian residency or a local credit history.From my research, it seems that a 35% down payment is often required, with interest rates around 7.5-8.5% for non-residents.

Right now there's huge concentration, but as this continues to build out and we see north of the high 30s GW by 10 years from now it'll be almost a requirement to keep some type of locality based risk assessment and to diversify.