Here's what I've been told:- Realtor is your gateway to accurate MLS data (unless you become a licensed agent yourself)- The wrong realtor may speculate and potentially provide inaccurate info, but they should be, in general, one of your stronger resources for things like FMV (fair market value), DOM (days on market) and other details associated with local/current trends- www.irr.com seems to be a great resource for national and local market reportingI hope this is helpful - otherwise, I trust an expert will comment soon enough :) ...Btw - my family and I love to visit your area in the summertime (7 presidents)...sorry for the annoying seasonal traffic from us North Jersians!

You cannot find new homes that start under $350k, not counting the land and all the extras.

I already have a $100k LOC open that I have been using for purchases and having the extra $60k cash will give me some flexibility. 

This will allow me to know if there is any fraudulent activity.I require renters to send me a copy of their drivers license and they pay a $300 security deposit.I still mow the grass myself even though house is an hour away because I like to check on things but I could easily outsource this and rarely have to visit property.Homeaway takes the payments, maintains a calendar and website with pictures and details of the property.I wanted to offset the ownership of a lake house, then very quickly it started paying for itself.

Adds a bit more in expenses, especially with the cost of electricity in Ontario (at least the unit I am looking at is gas heat opposed to baseboard), but the extra $300-400 roughly in expenses could easily be made up for with the extra $800-1000 in potential rent.

@Zoe Mercier do you have the details on numbers?

So when sellers state that they don't want to tell you details about their property they want to sell (ie, the mortgage balance), and they just want an offer.....what do you tell them?

My bank charges an extra half a % to the rate, on top of the investment hit etc.

Happy to help analyze in more detail if you'd like...feel free to PM me more details and I'd be happy to give you some more thoughts.Best of luck!

In my opinion, yes, it can be done, but you're looking into a bigger mess as far as the government is concerned.Lets preface this with I don't know exactly how this works either, but after a certain amount of people are involved you have to report as a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) and have to file extra forms related to your business and also after a certain threshold you also need to report members and their distributions to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) so they know as well.Being young (as am I) you are going to run into a lot of dead ends trying to apply for a residential loan with a business name.