If you can rent it for enough to cover the principal, interest, taxes and insurance and still put money in your pocket, plus cash flow on the property you're purchasing, that would be ideal.

u can see these homes on my website. also if there is any way to manage it.. if you can figure out how to get paid as a WA resident you will enjoy the same no income tax status you enjoy now.. 

How do we minimize taxes on the profit we're making on this first home? 

It reminds me of one of the TAX sale how to traveling freebie events that came to town last spring..

Hard to give good advice without more info, but since You are single no kids it's hard to beat buying a single family fixer upper and living in it for two years and then selling for tax free profits....I'm a big fan of Waltham these days $.02 

A rent payment isn't enough to cover the DSCR payment, HELOC payment, tax, insurance, and maintenance.

Not only were tax shelters stripped of their tax deferral capabilities, but they were stripped of it RETROACTIVE, allowing the IRS to recalculate tax shelter investors income going back 7 years.  

Bonus - the interest on the loan is tax deductible!

Hey @Nevin Wilkie. have you looked on the city or county's tax records to find the mailing address for the owner when it's different than the address of the property you want to buy?

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.