I prefer coinless.

Stay healthy, stay away from bad people.Some ideas to find the deals:walk/drive neighborhoods, look for neglected propertiesadvertise, newspapers, radio, pass out flyersWrite a nice letter to landlordsWhen housing court starts up again, meet landlords there - chatCall and visit owners of Expired Listings - make offersBuild a relationship with a few Realtors, offer to pay them a fee (3-5% of purchase price for unlisted buildings) for presenting your offers to FSBO's and expired listings (auto pilot investing) The purpose behind this is to open negotiations with sellers, I always offer well below their asking price BUT IN WRITING hand delivered by an agent (you save time, cost of gas and you increase the odds of finding a fat equity deal)Study Real Estate Control techniques; delayed settlement, assignment clauses, all types of options, hybrid or JV with sellers, repair consideration with possession (known as front porch offers) use one of the 21 proposals for seller financing (the best highest leverage financing you can get)My LOCK-DOWN has proven to be profitable, I have time to network and develop clients nationwide to mentor/partner transactions.

My business partner and I are somewhat long-distance investors (I spend about a month down there a year) and would like to have a home there that would eventually paid off (preferably closer to the French quarter/CBD).

These are just some of the reasons why people prefer the US for property investment.Building a team in the Midwest may be a step in the right direction based on your critieria.Cheers! 

What is the preferred method for coming up with rental comps?

I figured this is the best way to provide value to those who may be running low on time/energy.Need to find & analyze deals - let me know how you prefer this task accomplished and I will start doing it.Need to rehab a property - I've got capable hands that are here to help.All in all, I want to provide value in return for hands-on experience.

I know owners that prefer to keep tenants on month-to-month since they can terminate more quickly than they can evict for non payment. 

So you can choose to only live with male roommates with no children if you'd prefer. 

My wife and I are looking to purchase a home on Lake Champlain and rent it out when we can't get up there (preferably the VT side but not opposed to NY).

CoStar (commercial real estate analytics provider) published an article (there is a paywall for CoStar) about office workers'  productivity working from home, and their preferences working in the office in the future. 40% of respondents said they were less productive at home, while 22% said they were more productive, but at the cost of working more hours. 50% of respondents preferred some type of flexible policy of splitting time between the office and home.