If you are relying on the previous owner to give you your numbers you are going to get burnt. 500 per month on insurance is incredibly high.

Nicholas,An IRA is qualified vehicle allowing you to invest for retirement in tax-deferred environment.

House hacking would be an incredible start in your position. 

@Sean Poulos welcome to BP, it's an incredible resource!  

In this day of social media and connectivity and all that, it just seems incredibly possible and maybe even easier???

I dont have anyone in my immediate contacts that knows anything about this, in fact my family and some friends are incredibly against this.

The construction should be of more consistent quality given it is repeatably produced in a controlled factory environment.

You also aren't going to make enough money on $2,000-$3,000 to have a meaningful impact on the time it takes you to save unless you get incredibly lucky, you could also lose a bit of ground as well as stocks don't always go up over the short term.

However, it would be incredibly beneficial if i was able to find a mentor within the great toronto region (GTA) to help guide me through my new journey!

Start attending as many meetups that fit your criteria as you can and you will grow your network incredibly fast.