Or turning your current residence into a rental and buying another primary and living in it until you can rent it to cash flow. 

Live in one side for a year to meet your residence requirement for the loan.3.

Long time Scranton resident, investor and realtor here!

I was looking for some advice (viable target areas in Cleveland or Ohio in general, financing options and credible PM/realtor contacts) from the experts here though especially if you are in a similar boat as mine (reside in Canada/Ontario area and invest in US). 

Investment Info:Single-family residence wholesale investment.

If it's an owner occupied loan, the underwriter will need to verify this is your primary residence.

I would suggest taking the route of option 2 or 3, so not only are you saving over 10k in rent per year but the residents help in paying down the debt.

I guess I could do some work-arounds -- maybe reserve one unit in the first purchase for use as an AirBnb, and reserve my own time in it when needed - instead of claiming it as a primary.Are either of you (or anyone) familiar with a finance product/loan that will allow me to purchase under $150,000 (w/ strong credit) and do much of my own work and live-in a portion as a primary residence?  

This is why househacking is so powerful when youre getting started - for primary residence loans, 3-5% down is very normal.

I am going to assuming it's a nice house if it was your primary residence and it's in a nice location.