If you don't want a big city like Calgary or Edmonton; try Lethbridge, Red Deer and a few other cities with populations around 100K. 

Think in terms of green yellow red communication in these reports.  

Or is that a red flag?.

Most utility water meters have a small red or black dial on the face of them that is a leak detector.

I have them all replaced. 2. curtains/drapes are stained with food and whatever red, purple color. 3.

Whether intent is there or not, you will be accused of redlining if you spin "red yellow green" or similar color coded market maps to identify places to invest or move.  

There have been quite a number of red flags and warnings in this thread and many of your responses tend to be, "but what about this and this is why that is" leading me to believe you have already made up your mind that moving forward is a good idea so I wont try and change your mind but again, warn you that some things in this syndication are outside the norm and the promised rates of return (STR's in the package included) are abnormally high leading me to believe that the investors will have a much higher chance of disappointment than satisfaction.

Usually I have learned that paying an upfront fee to lenders is a big red flag - so what's the deal here? 

While a low fund isn't an automatic red flag, it's definitely something to look deeper into.

There were some red flags during the acquisition process but their PM team has proven to be flat out mediocre.