There are lenders out there spending a ton on advertising with an army of correspondent's funneling them loans and many can very well be one and done borrowers because the loan servicing/construction admin is lousy. 

I find myself over whelmed with a sistuation that I am currently facing. 

Better to spend $60-80k for a conversion than over 120k.  

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.

Now, moving forward he offered for us to take it over completely.

@Stephen FlemingFrom my experience working with over 400 investors, your strategy of leveraging a low mortgage rate, tapping into home equity, and diversifying with a short-term rental (STR) in Northern Michigan is well thought out.

We plan to spend the next 6-12 months continuing to earn and save, as well as nail down a final market we want to househack in.

@Luis Cerwin as others have stated, Nov - Jan is the worst time of year to have a vacancy.Majority of tenants live paycheck-to-paycheck, so all their income goes to Holiday spending starting with Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then xmas, then NYE.January is also historically the worst month for rent payments due to Holiday Hangover Spending.

Would you mind telling us what you spend per month on life? 

@Laura YelinI’ve never been, but when considering new markets I usually just fly there and spend a few days there scoping it out.