You can quickly see why looking at this graph - https://www.visualcapitalist.com/buying-vs-renting-house-in-...You can see how in 2015 the average mortgage was cheaper than the average rent, so it was easier to make the math work with light value add and just buying single family homes.

@Derick JenningsRecommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

I've worked with some Canadians buying  here in Ohio.Indeed, rather than selling your stocks to fund investments (and lose out on any potential price appreciation and dividend payments, as well as incurring capital gains taxes), a nice alternative is to borrow against some percentage of the holdings.You would start with the brokerage where you hold the stocks and see what their loan program looks like for the account you hold. 

I buy all over DFW for large investor, and I always enjoy talking shop.

I did public record searches on all the tenants while I was in the process of buying the building just so I'd know who I was going to be dealing with.

On buy-and holds we usually replace all the plumbing with pex, no matter what, because galvanized has a life expectation of about 60 years, so I usually take the sooner than later approach.Stick with hard money, like Mach1 or or MKE hard money (Scott Lurie) as they will not leand on a deal that does not pencil out, so you have the added benefit of someone experienced looking over your numbers.

The process of buying, getting a loan and settling to closing was extremely smooth.

Quote from @Sundone Boutvyseth: Looking to buy a single family home and use as a STR on Airbnb.

You can also use some low-down payment mortgage products to continue buying in your back yard while house hacking and renting to others. 

The formula that is sticking out as a potential to me is what I have been doing quietly the last 6 years: buying a cosmetic SFH fixer in B areas with 3% down, live in and renovate, long term rent and repeat.