And they want to drag you into their troubled world.

I know the market had priced in a .25% drop into loans for the last few weeks maybe a month.

For the Canada to US issue, reach out to Daniel Foch who co-hosts the Canadian Real Estate Investor show with Nick Hill.But this statement - "first small deal and get some positive cash flow" - is troubling because you may get enticed into a cash flow market with this thinking.

I am thinking about exchanging into another CA property for now (and avoiding the cap gain taxes of upcoming sale), and then a year or two later I'd sell that property and then deploy that money out of state. 

@Morgan BrownYou may find better pricing by breaking these up into 2 sales contracts and 2 transactions. 

I swear it's like BP is turning into FB, sadly  Good luck 

I also notice a lot of people from Chicago moving into the area (myself included) due to the movement towards remote work, although this is anecdotal evidence.

If you are trying to pool money from investors you need to read some of the post on BP regarding this.No disrespect meant, but your post shows that you need to learn more about the business you are trying to jump into.

Aloha Chris, you can do more than practice,  you get into the game with OPM.   

I'd recommend doing some research into what markets you want to target (landlord friendly / growing population / economic drivers and developments) of those markets.