With owning, you have possibility of building equity but the responsibilities of maintenance etc.For investing purposes, I think Cash Flow and Cash on Cash return are what's important - not what your mortgage costs are vs what you personally pay in rent.

Tourism is an historic well established business there and make a comparison Mexico Vs Colombia is like compare a tropical island vs a desert .

My question is, in calculating comps what do I use for the comparables? 

I compared the lists and talked to people and simply took the dive and invested in Boise- I had neighbors from CA move there, had some friends who invested there in the past and took a trip and liked the area. 

I’m not sure the best way to approach the topic of wanting to buy there home for investment purposes and under market value.

Say I invest in an MFR and SFR, and whatever else, can I use my REA SP for write off's, tax purposes, etc? 

I wrote the above for informational purposes.

My purpose is to do this while helping others along the way; I will be free so that I can do what I love (architectural design) and help others in need. 

Your credit will take a massive hit which may not be worth the interest savings of 18months compared with potentially worse terms on a new mortgage down the road (some lenders give rate discounts tiered with credit scores).I did exactly what you are proposing and have been wondering if I should just pay it all back. 

So make sure you're not comparing a 5 YR IRR to a 3 YR IRR, because that's a huge difference on these value-add projects that bump up the shorter term IRR.