Interview them of course but for the most part they are hard workers that are cheap or free. 

As Hai mentioned in BC there are a couple of extra things to factor in if your parents sell it to you-the capital gains, foreign buyer's tax AND the property transfer tax all apply in BC and the middle one is not cheap (an extra 15%). 

Throw it at me!! 

You can pick up houses cheap in the area but there is not a lot of appreciation.

@Roger CreekmoreMini splits sound like the best option from the cheap seats. 

I've paid for a handful of programs over the years from cheap to expensive and narrow-focused to broad-based. 

If anyone wants to discuss this, throw it in this forum! 

It's hard to say without knowing more, but I'll throw out some general advice.1.

Out of state investors can do really well here, but you can also lose a decent chunk of money if you buy wrong.Lots of out of state investors, especially those from California get a little blindsided because everything here is so cheap it all looks like a guaranteed great deal.

You will likely need financing to scale (especially to scale quickly), and investment property mortgage will not be cheap or even available with poor credit.