Hi BP,I recently told a contractor I would like to hire him for a proposed flip to strictly do the work,  have worked with him before and he has a great track record and is a trusted vendor.

It's the same as FHA or USDA, which are very strict ,but VA adds a mandatory wood destroying insect report, which the seller is required to pay for.In addition, I have personally witnessed appraisers who see it as their role to "fight for the veteran" and by that I mean to hammer the price down for them.The most recent case was a home that started life as a Campanelli Ranch. 

I aim to learn from both their success and horror stories and to combine that with what I've learned on the job to determine my criteria for where/what I will purchase in the future for myself.While I'm fairly confident in some aspects due my serving in an analytical capacity at my job, I definitely have a lot to learn when it comes to strictly SFRs/non-CRE properties.

@Kevin Chan You will get good tenants if you hit all the  strict qualifications.

You should be able to uncheck every day (to prevent) check-in and check-out, which should strictly limit Saturday to Saturday bookings for you.

There are 10s of thousand of homes in Toronto that are non conforming but the city has are not strict on enforcing 

Some kind of county/community organization that purchases vacant or foreclosed homes for cheap, and then resells them to buyers with typically strict stipulations.

Some kind of county/community organization that purchases vacant or foreclosed homes for cheap, and then resells them to buyers with typically strict stipulations.

However there is nothing wrong with having strict criteria and looking for a specific type of deal.

I empathize with your question because my wife and I are in a similar situation as you are, an extremely expensive local market that may or may not be conducive to our methods and goals.We have elected to pursue out of state opportunities because we believe there are remote markets that will meet our strict criteria for buy and hold rentals.