Cross my fingers, have had none and hope to not have any. 

The only chance someone has of getting 100% financing is if they can cross collateralize against other assets OR an unsuspecting seller financed deal.

FYI in cleveland when the city sees the owner as an out of state entity you are put right in the cross hairs and they will literally go measure the grass and fine you and make it a criminal offense. so in cuyahoga county yes i agree to use a LLC but I would do an ohio one.

The thought of buying near colleges has crossed my mind many times: an abundance of tenants & cash flow!

So, real estate agents may do it part-time, but rarely do they do it well.Recommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (BiggerPockets: The Real Estate Investing Social Network), etc.Also, encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.

Since lenders will not lend cross-border, you'll have to provide US collateral, like taking a HELOC if the collateral is real estate, or you'll have to use love money or pay cash.But maybe it's not that a bad thing if your land has increased in value in case you'd want to sell it you can't get the funding.

Very interested in the Cleveland/Ohio market in addition to a few other cross-border cities closer to Toronto. 

@Sam TrightBesides the other comments above you also start really walking or crossing the fine line of selling securities when you start bundling up parts of a note and selling it to different people.

And hey, maybe we'll cross paths again when you're ready to make a move into a new market!

The barrier of entry out here may be lower but of course you have to cross the hudson to get here.