Hello, I am also located in Toronto and have around a decent sized portfolio in Cleveland.

Do I need to choose a location close to home or farther away?

Now if your thinking location jumps out as a big factor to all this, you hit the nail on the head, location location LOCATION. 

I know people who do this and I do not believe there are issues with it, but speak to an attorney and they should probably notify the company if they are an employee of that company that they are doing this.

If that's your only issue, then you should be OK. 

I travel somewhat frequently for work during the weeks so also trying to wrap my head around how to best structure for that.Anyone open to connecting and / or have any trusted people to help in the event of maintenance issues?

Insurance is definitely an issue there, and will continue to be.

It was a great crash course on the basics of a RAL business from location, staffing, patient selection, and branding.

I'm not a lawyer and this isn't legal advice but I wholesale in 7 different markets and my LLC is just in one state and I haven't had any issues. 

However, the property must be in a safe location, which is sometimes further than 5 miles from the hospital.