I have only heard of that happening recently because the buyer bought a new car or was late on some credit card payments just prior to closing.I have had quite a few people come into my open houses hoping to qualify but they have car payments, credit card debit and they are self-employed so can't support the payments with their declared income.

If you are married, your spouse might be able to become a real estate professional if self employed in the real estate industry or looking to change careers/start working in the real estate industry.The easier route to take would be to invest in another property that produces net taxable income (property 2) and use tax losses from property 1 to offset property 2 taxable income to zero. 

And for me depreciation does come into play as I am self employed and in the bizz So NOL and depreciation are considerations.

How much leverage do you figure success real estate investors (as defined in my original post) employ -- more than the typical 5:1 or 4:1 that can be found in ordinary mortgages?

So, if you decide to go to college, then maybe get a business degree.In general, college prepares you to be employable not to become an investor.

You are now starting to see evidence that rent is also decoupling from income.Naturally, this cannot continue, eventually employers will be compelled to relocate, or virtualise, to both afford facilities and retain a productive workforce.The difference with LA and Vancouver is that the average house price in LA is in the $500,000 range; so although both the housing price and wage growth rate in LA or the US may not necessarily be materially different than that of Vancouver, just the average price varaiance of a house in both cities will tend to make Vancouver seem more unaffordable.Housing and its affordability is a serious issue.

If you're going to continue investing in low-income units, I would suggest you employ a good property manager.

Employment history... is there any where that could finance a mortgage?

Even if you old it for more than a year, but your property  is flip, you are going to pay ordinary taxes plus self employment taxes if you do it regularly. 

As of the last 4 years we have developed a performance metric based probationary employment which allows applicants to demonstrate their skills.