Your major issue in the discussion. 

Our STRs are all booked for the holidays majority wise but the one week that is slow across the board is the week post-Thanksgiving.

The majority of Buyers search 3rd party listing services which also provide listing agent contact info.

To real estate or not to real estate..I'm a math major, so I think about numbers A LOT.

Vehicle expenses are one of the major costs to consider, so living nearby helps reduce those expenses and saves you time.

The vast majority of lawsuits against landlords involve wrongful eviction, security deposit disputes, and Fair Housing Violations.

As a Canadian, most of what you say regarding BC and Ontario is true due to Vancouver and Toronto being the major cities in Canada, but your immigration numbers and link to housing shortage is a bit of political rhetoric.

This is what the majority of investors are doing. 

@Nathan Frost  Ironically, I did the majority of my real estate investing in Texas while living in Metro Detroit, and you are doing somewhat the reverse.I didn't want to get too negative, but suffice to say the City of Detroit* is a very tough market. 

Some reasonable- a roof and ceiling repair from a major leak... some not so reasonable (they literally made me escrow the cost to add a deadbolt to a door).