The only downside to this whole situation is now you have to send a different contractor to work on her unit to avoid a potential confrontation which sort of stinks considering you have a 15 year history with the contractor.

My initial hope was to invest in Canada to avoid complicated tax scenarios, but I know members of the BP community have had good success with cross border investing as long as it's structured correctly.I'm looking to work at least 1 more year overseas, but I'd like to start transitioning into investing over the next 12 months if possible to do so from abroad.I'm really excited to enter into this exciting industry, and hopefully work with some of the great real estate minds here on BP!

Trying to avoid neighborhoods that would require me to hire security for a property, but I don't mind taking some risk.

Generally speaking, I would avoid anything with additions, properties that have been converted (like SF to MF, or duplex to triplex), or anything weird. 

So, I am not sure what is the "wrong" part - or what to avoid?

BRRRR can work essentially anywhere, and I’m not saying avoid reading, but as a new investor I would avoid the tougher neighborhoods or any large rehab projects.

If I understand the BRRR method correctly, the first purchase will require a closing cost and then when we refinance the deal, we pay the closing cost again, is that correct? Or is it, that if we pay cash for the hou...

I heard that I should completely avoid national and stay local, but I'm not sure what other criteria I should be using for my search. 

I did reach out to a lawyer, but would love to avoid the high price he quoted.  

If you live in an area that is good for flipping, but not so great for long-term rentals (aka Illinois with some of the highest real estate tax rates in the country), I could see this as a way to keep flipping but avoid the steep tax rates that come with the straight flip.