I'll add on to what the other Ben said and mention that there are exceptions based on the # of days that you rent out your home to where the income/expenses are excludable (being lesser of 14 days or 10% of total usage if under 140 personal use days).

Hey Patrick, Do you have a US credit score or do you have credit in Canada?

that we’ve learned in our 24 years, managing almost 700 doors across the Metro Detroit area, including almost 100 S8 leases:Class A Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, 3-5 years for positive cashflow, but you get highest relative rent & value appreciation.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% the more recent norm.Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 680+ (roughly 5% probability of default), zero evictions in last 7 years.Class B Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, decent amount of relative rent & value appreciation.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% should be applied only if proper research done to support.Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 620-680 (around 10% probability of default), some blemishes, but should have no evictions in last 5 yearsClass C Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, high cashflow and at the lower end of relative rent & value appreciation.

Even areas that are "lesser known" have issues as while the properties might be less expensive, rents tend to be significantly lower.

Most lenders I've worked with will use the lesser of the current rents or market rents reported by the appraiser when calculating your debt service coverage ratio. 

that we’ve learned in our 24 years, managing almost 700 doors across the Metro Detroit area, including almost 100 S8 leases:Class A Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, 3-5 years for positive cashflow, but you get highest relative rent & value appreciation.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% the more recent norm.Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 680+ (roughly 5% probability of default), zero evictions in last 7 years.Class B Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, decent amount of relative rent & value appreciation.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% should be applied only if proper research done to support.Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 620-680 (around 10% probability of default), some blemishes, but should have no evictions in last 5 yearsClass C Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, high cashflow and at the lower end of relative rent & value appreciation.

One of the things you can start doing is reviewing your credit score and work on improving it if needed.

Boosting your score doesn’t take long, and there are services that can review your credit history and help you increase it within a couple of months. 

What documents do they require, what credit scores do they allow, how do they verify previous rental history, etc.?

There are many HMLs that will finance new construction, but much of it is based on your experience, credit score, and the expected sale price.