Research the web for LP structure for canadian investing in US.

Use this information to do some researching of your own on the web or to verify their immigrant status.Complete international credit verifications and background checks.There are many resident screening services that have the capability to process foreign applicants.

In looking at Norada's web site they have many properties that are indicated to be in A and B neighborhoods.

Counting on appreciation in the vast majority of the country is just gambling and unwise.  

This is not investing, it's gambling.

There's a web portal I have access to so that I can see any expenses/rent payments/owner statements coming in, and the status of any repairs, work orders.

Some people making mistakes will get bailed out by dumb luck with appreciation but that is gambling and not investing. 

I figured that I could afford to gamble about 30K and that it was a gamble...what I didn't figure was that it would end up costing ALOT more by the time the dust settled.

The concept is somewhat similar to the Kelly criterion from probability theory, which defines the % of your total bankroll you should be investing/gambling in a given proposition to optimize your profit and minimize your risk of ruin.

That's a gamble.