Hi David, you need a discounted propety, have you tried hyper focusing on off-market properties in your desired area.  

As Josh mentioned, it's important to find your right fit, I wouldn't focus solely on price especially if you're looking to be very hands off and you're looking for quality. 

In turn they will help you find off market deals as well.

It's stopping me from scaling to a much larger portfolio leveraged versus a smaller paid off portfolio.  

In my personal opinion, I think the return of 100% bonus (or at least expanding 179 a bit) is somewhat likely with the new administration, so it might be worth it to you to hold off on doing anything until things look a little bit more concrete.

do you guys post off market deals on there/is there a better place to find be off market deals in Canton rather than Craigslist or marketplace? 

If I were you I would look into the possibility of starting off with a house hack.

If you’re giving the owner the gross amount along with an owner expense statement, that was they’ll be able to write off the expenses?

The cherry on top is that he is always enthusiastic, and he truly seems to thrive off of helping and coaching others which is infectious. 

You might be better off finding a long term tenant for the time being.