You have a pre-existing developed relationship with someone, that person might be willing to go the extra mile if you use that benefit sparingly.

Essentially what it means is that you can not benefit from your IRA and it can not benefit from you.

I want to continue my research mainly into Buy & Hold investing and also look into ways to get into the game with a small amount of start-up money. 

There are 3 ways to create returns on rentals: buy with equity in place, benefit from appreciation, and cash flow.

You will also benefit from browsing through the Wholesaling Forums. 

The Finance Minister announced steps to curb the influx of foreign capital into the Canadian Real Estate Market  (in which he really meant TO and Vancouver ... down east we are not really suffering from the influx of foreign money ... sure we lost a 50-unit deal a couple of years ago to a Chinese investor, but the property was not worth what s/he paid, so we'll see it back on the market eventually).That said, Ottawa is only removing a loophole which has allowed foreigners to purchase a residence in Canada, claim it as their principal residence and then benefit from the personal residence {captial gains} tax exemption when they sell.  

However, I've seen the full income statement from the last 2 years, and the previous owner hasn't been making nearly as much as I would expect, mainly due to high costs.First question: should I be worried that this is a lemon... or is it an opportunity?

Seems like a very intriguing way of managing property and benefitting from increase NOI and ultimately property value.I am looking at a 3 family property that needs a ton of work (perhaps $75-100K, although I haven't done a deep dive on pricing yet).

We have no penalty for not closing on the 14th and on top if they are not ready we actually benefit.  

Not providing detail only benefits them.