I wouldn't be caught dead living in Toronto or Vancouver!

That is where BP will come into play.  

Another could be that he's dead and no is paying the note.

What if they changed their mind, what if they couldn’t find the right place, what if one of them dropped dead, had a heart attack, lost their job?

He does some value add office plays.

I have my real estate license and hope it can play a big part in acquiring properties.  

No matter how I try to approach it with her, it ends up getting pushed to the side because the idea of 'playing with our money like that' stresses her out. 

As a new user to BP but someone who has done well with the three properties I’ve owned, I was taking a look through the forums seeing what screening tools others were using and thought it was interesting how much of an emphasis the 2% rule & 50% rule played out as a starting point for many.

The scenario where this plays an important role is if the permitted uses are ones that do not pay as well as the current "retail" type use.

If you are ONLY getting $4k/yr long term historical average on a $200k house, that is 2%, so definitely not the right time or place to play that game. coastal SoCal historical average (going back 40 years) is around 6% ... with 20% down (5-to-1 leverage) that is a 30% average annual return; that is the example I use because that is the example I know, not sure about Oregon but suspect it may be better than the 2% in your example.