Examine Midwest markets that exhibit positive demographic and economic trends, such as varied economies, inexpensive housing, and rapid employment development.Prior to making an investment in an out-of-state market, it is imperative to establish connections with local property managers, investors, and real estate experts.

LLC potentially exposes to me Self-Employment Tax; an S-Corp election requires the payment of a salary; my preference is to avoid either.  

We always consider gig employment so long as it meets our qualification of 3x the amount of rent and verifiable income for 1 year. 

Thus they split out the Rental, and use a C-Corp blocker to eat up the Ordinary.2) The activity would generate self employment income. 

Generally you can weed out many individuals based on income, credit, employment history, previous residences, and overall behavior compared to other candidates. 

It's so simple, anyone can pull it off, and many of my clients are first time investors employing the exact same strategy.I think you already have it pretty much figured out, but I might suggest incorporating some kind of creative housing in the mix to increase revenue, like STR/MTR or renting by the bedroom.

On a positive there are 15-20-30 year amortizations and increasing income qualifications including instant approval and AVM (no appraisal requirements) for very clean applicants, and creative documentation for self-employed borrowers or investors such as bank statements or even DSCR (usually up to 75%LTV) for investment properties. 

Are there various strategies/corporate structures that can be employed to minimize the tax obligation to Canada when investing in the states?

.- Very low appreciation unless there is a large market shift -- major new employer, city takes many housing units offline via eminent domain, a college greatly expands without additional housing, etc.The list goes on.

There are ~160M employed persons in the US.