I'm going to reiterate what's already been mentioned above, but I'm going to actually give you examples of why it's relevant to you to find a U.S. tax professional.1 - You're going to need to file U.S. taxes once you have property down here, there's federal filings, state filings, and sometimes local filings too2 - Tons of tax treaties between the U.S. and Canada that are easy to miss and can cost you a lot of money (important one with rentals - effectively connected income - if the professional you talk to doesn't know what this is, run away)3 - The amount of days you spend in the U.S. needs to be tracked and if you go over a threshold, all of your worldwide income could be taxable by the U.S.4 - Selling real property means up to 15% of your sales proceeds might not be available to you for years (FIRPTA)5 - Lots of nuance at the state and local levels, which both want to take as much money from you as possibleMain takeaway here is that you should find a U.S. based tax person.

. -- lots of factors to consider (including your personal strategy), but here are a few high level metrics to compare the most populous zip codes in HuntsvilleWelcome to drop me a message if you are interested in checking out the full report 

In your experience what are some ways I can understand the intent of the person who said they're interested in buying? 

I have personally been the guy who hasn't pulled permits and got caught...by far one of the worst experiences of my investing career.

Then, each person with money in the deal would get an 8% preferred dividend until they get all of their money back.

Personally (as a STR-focused REALTOR), I would never give you numbers and tell you you can hit them. 

This could give you the cash you need for the purchase and also eliminate your personal guarantee for the loans.

You might be able to get around the fact your entity owns the property by either transferring the property back into your personal name or by some personal guarantee or cross-collaterization agreement.

If you've never done it and never looked at properties anywhere in person, how will you know what any of the numbers even mean? 

I’m not convinced it makes a real difference unless a person has a unique setting.