I was looking in areas that border LA county (Simi Valley, San Bernardino, Riverside, etc.)

., especially after factoring CAD dollar right now... but over the long-term, there is far more opportunity south of the border.

One was to open up the borders and let in any immigrant that has enough money or credit to buy a home.

I like this product for local landlords and have funded literally over a couple thousand of them.. but as a funder I will not fund to anyone that does not live within an hour of the asset when your talking those price points in MAJOR MSAs  but get out into the little burbs or lessor known communities and these can go well.. but in most major MSA's those price points are squarely in the roughest neighborhoods bordering on war zones if not war zones..  

Keeps those who cross national borders on their toes, I guess...

A deal really has to work at a cash price for it to be worth pursuing.Seller financing can make a deal easier, but it can't turn a border-line deal into a great one.  

I currently live in a tiny town Grande Cache, Alberta where I manage an Environmental Contracting company working with First Nations, Oil, Gas, Forestry, Government and all the rest.My real estate experience is fresh at best but I am in a fantastic position to start with a nice piggy bank of life savings in the 10's of thousands, no debt, dual income with my partner and a fairly cheap rental situation at the moment.We have a wonderful opportunity with some land my partner was given on the Ontario, Quebec border aswell as some fantastic waterfront lots we have been looking to buy on West Coast Vancouver Island.

On top of the traditional same opportunities found in US real estate market, by investing north of the border you get exposure to the Canadian dollar.

I think I am at the border of being accredited.

This one has a MUD at the southern border of the property I am trying to see if will allow a water / sewer tap sometime in the future or for redundancy / emergency purposes.In Texas and many other states you can pass along the submetered (or allocated) costs of private utilities to cover the cost of the service - the risk is really about the capital costs (hence diligence), and less about run & maintain if you're doing that properly.My point to all this nonsense is that you're already taking on additional risk by evaluating a smaller park, you might as well keep private utilities on the table if they're in good shape, you can get comfortable with them, and use it as a negotiation point for instant equity / further upside.But I can see from your story @Paul Stout that the existing septic there looked like a big problem, and for a small Park could make the entire economics go sideways.