I have found the best way to address is to pull all the carpet and spray the floors with Kilz, as you mentioned.

Addressing the problems is like trying to put out small individual fires in a forest that is burning.

I'm interested in investing in the city (and surrounding areas) I last lived in and have a trusted realtor and a few contractors/handymen.

He advised that the best thing I could do is have investor buyers that I can trust and that will go through with the transaction.I would like to here your thoughts on this. 

I was doing flips when we called them equity purchases.Now, I'm just taking care of my rentals, businesses and I'm dabbling in buying and selling trust deeds as a side business.

How did they get your name and address?  

I am planning to create an LLC with the Solo 401k trust as the member to provide liability protection when I purchase real estate and some separation of assets within the 401k. 

Thanks for all the responses guys - that is the answer I've been receiving from a few people I trust as well.I'm pretty familiar with the Atlanta market and have been for a few years.

Hey @Nathan WiebeNever done that but maybe one possibility would be to have the US friend to be the mortgagor.He doesn't necessary need to be the owner and it doesn't mean that he is the one, in practice, who has to make the loan repayments.This setup involves a great degree of trust between the friend and the Canadian investor to the extend that it is questionable whether it is a good idea or not to set it up that way

What would help make you trust them with investing your money?