Mortgage lenders don't really hurt your credit score when they run it, unlike credit cards and auto loans and everything else (because mortgages are considered good debt vs bad debt for everything else). 

I haven't tried smaller banks, I have an auto loan trough a credit union which is almost paid off and I've always been in good terms with them over 5 years, I will talk to them to see if I have options.

If you dont want to pay $400 per property, At the minimun, have your PM hire someone for a day, to walk through the propertues and note condition of the various systems, roofs, mechanicals, peeling paint, driveways, etc... if your pm was recommended by the seller, hire someone else for the walk through.

My only concern about SW Ontario (and one of the reasons we moved 'out west' is that the auto industry seems to be on a slow one-way trip south.

A lot will depend on mechanical systems.  

I have a full time job as an Mechanical Engineer but wanted to look into real estate investing  and learn more about it.

Set an auto follow up to see every few weeks what is happening with the property.One thing to ask is when the next BPO is happening on the property?

I cannot tell you (in the hundreds) of investors that spend lots of money on setting up llc's to prevent an investment from ruining personal funds, but then have $25k or $50k limits on their personal auto.

I actually do have a track record, though the best thing on there right now is a $20K auto loan I paid off a couple years ago.

If they do not have a trust or some other mechanism to transfer ownership on death, which it does not sound like there is, it will need to be probated.So, I believe you are looking for a probate attorney.