Umbrella insurance provides substantial liability protection at a lower cost and avoids the administrative complexities of managing an LLC.

Unless new companies create replacement jobs in the city requiring similar skills and pay comparable wages, your tenants may be forced to take lower-paying service sector jobs.

If I were you, I'd pass on this property and look for something else (and I suggest a 3 BR) under $80 that you can put a little rehab into, unless insurance pays your family member a bunch of money and they accept a much lower price. 

What is your Risk tolerance level?

Taxes are half the cost compared to CA and insurance is lower if not by the water.

New construction in a saturated market isn’t always the best play if you’re looking for steady returns.A place like Rochester has way better fundamentals—lower buy-in, strong rent-to-price ratios, and stable demand from universities, hospitals, and major employers.

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.

The house is in Woodforest though so rentability might be lower as well increasing vacancy risk due to high rental costs. 

that is a much lower risk way of getting started than with a sub to deal

On the other hand, if you have a lower budget, let’s say $100-$150k.