I assume from your post you are paying utilities otherwise from a purely financial standpoint, all your winterizing is a waste.The largest cost for nearly every landlord is turnover or vacancies.

Using lease options as financing devices with Dodd Frank coming into play on Jan 10 2014 will get you into Federal trouble, not State.Use a pure lease and pure option will not.Good luck!

Financially it makes sense to keep the profits being generated by my US LLC over here and from a purely personal point of view I'm always keen to take on new challenges.

Personal property requires you to live in the house for one year.The short answer is you have options but not if they are bought as "pure" investments.

Currently, I buy in three markets -- one is purely MLS, one is purely off-market and the other is a new market where I plan to use a combination of the two strategies.So, what is your market telling you right now in terms of how best to find deals?

I don't know if this is a common thing, or may be it's just a pure coincidence that I came across a few times just in the last two months.When I schedule with a listing agent to see a home, and most times it's either a short sale or REO, especially a REO, the home is vacant and you have a lock box with a four digit combination code.Now once in a while I will be at the property on time and the agent's running late, and I would get a call from them saying "go on ahead, the code is xxxx and I'll be there in 10 minutes".

(I know that is not guaranteed and is purely speculative, which I'm trying to avoid).I think with the right deal I'd lean towards the duplex at this point because I like the higher cash flow and the idea of having someone still there to help pay the mortgage during a vacancy.

Pure and simple!

I am thinking of this from a pure protection with respect to any liability concerns (in either direction).

This opinion is purely based on my instincts!