My initial question, does anyone know what's involved to invest in a US market as Canadians?

Whether they are section 8 or market rate, a bad tenant can cause $10's of thousands of dollars of damage really quickly.  

The banks are just very conservative in this environment.I met a gentlemen who came into my brewery (current location that I lease) and we got to talking about the general market and our plans to scale. 

One property has already been rehabbed and is on the market, though it hasn’t attracted much interest yet despite being listed for a few weeks.

Additionally - does anyone have 1/ a good agent 2/ number 3/ handy man all in west palm? 

I am sure, alas one cannot specialize in all markets:)

Best way to do it is to have a simultaneous closing...look for an investor friendly title company and a hard money lender that is used often in your market and explain what you would like to do and ask them to help you accomplish it...Everyone likes to feel like an expert, they would happy to show you how it is done.

However, the previous landlord permitted them to take over an additional 3,000 square feet on the second floor, which is now filled with inventory and unusable for other purposes.While this tenant has been reliable and has a long-standing relationship with the property, their occupancy of this extra space is limiting our ability to maximize rental revenue.

City officials plan to make the Queen Mary a centerpiece of their Olympic tourism strategy, alongside hosting five Olympic events.In addition to refurbishing the ship, Long Beach is developing its downtown and waterfront areas, including a new amphitheater and commercial spaces.

Once the rental home is sold, my half of the proceeds will be roughly $113,000 (this is after closing costs and taxes and is an estimation based on the current market value).