Or, alternatively, to get out of the PMI after a few years? 

I have left termite treatment up to the seller and requested a paid invoice of treatment to be submitted to the bank  once finished.  

Alternatively, you can go with a portfolio lender and get a refi with the same LTV % as conventional, immediately after fixing up the property and placing a tenant.

Our lender told me it's 10 total, and a smaller local lender said they can only do four, so for us primary plus nine investment properties seems like the max available until I find an alternative.

It will be a major job; but it likely won't fetch a price you want in it's current condition so you need to explore some alternatives.

Alternatively, you can use your own funds to purchase/rehab (Cash, Heloc, etc.) and then use a private lender on the back end to be the bank after the property is stabilized.

Do the collective experience and intelligence of this community have any creative suggestions or alternatives to suggest?

I told her I would personally drive down there if she wanted and dump the neighbors plants onto their patio for retaliation, just let me know if you want me to do that ... but she declined :(Alternatively, do you want to stay local in nova, self manage 1-2 rental townhouses at 400K each and thats the end goal for your portfolio.

From the same source:"Vice cites a 2009 Canadian study by the Centre for Policy Alternatives that found that "the vast majority of Canada's population" gets a great deal: "Middle-income Canadian families enjoy public services worth about $41,000 — or 63 percent of their income.

Any other alternative routes or suggestions would be greatly appreciated  Thank you