Syracuse by you seems like a cheap spot with high rents. 

As others said here, leverage can improve returns in general if you can get cheap money. consistent passive 6% over a decade with low inflation is not bad for many investors.

@Evan Ventura,People here on BP have also successfully used the cheap IKEA countertops (around $75-99 for a piece). at that price they where treated as expendables (one per tenant), and some even reported getting the install time with demo at 2-4 hours.for the other, you need to "waterproof" the common points of water entry:-caulk between the wall and countertop-use varnish on points contacting sink-use good glue near the oven/range since the usual pressure-activated glue does not fare well with heat

Ben, I have doing this long enough to know that long distance investors will eventually loose owning cheap homes.  

But what made me lean more towards Memphis and more expensive properties was really because I was extremely woried (still am) that as it's so cheap it's too good to be true.

They made it easy and cheap.

They are not cheap, but will lend close to 90% of the purchase price and 100% of the rehab.  

I was going to rent but when I saw how much rent was in the area (600-800 for a 1 bed apartment, 800-1000 for a 3/2 not-so-nice house) and how cheap houses were to purchase (30-70k for a not-so-nice to moderately nice 3/2 house) I decided to just buy.  

Do we pay cash for 4 cheap turn keys out of state?

Toronto however, isn't a cheap place to invest.