Personally it comes down to numbers and a balance of my beliefs in humanity. 

Held this belief for a few years that it would correct hard from the top once it showed signs of cracking.

Well, @Michael Greenberg, at 71 I'm not likely to change my basic belief about faith or honesty in humanity at this point of my life.

I'm too empathetic of a landlord to make money"This is a limiting belief... if you aren't willing to change this belief, you need a new strategy (not buy and hold).

However, it's my belief, that the okanagan provides one of the best mixtures of potential for growth and downside protection in the country.

I need to get rid of those limiting beliefs.

A proper market research and a belief that real estate investing in Canada still makes sense is very important to us before both of us take such fundamental steps.Can anyone advice where would you start in this situation?

@Russell Brazil is exactly on point, 2% rule works when the properties are cheap cheap cheap.The rule stems from the belief that (a) half of gross rent will go towards expenses, and (b) .6-.7 of the rent goes towards the mortgage payment. 2%-1%-.7% = .3% monthly profit.It's a very conservative formula, but just explaining why some investors stick to it.

I'm not religious, nor am I espousing any religion, but:"Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference".Anything I do is not going to change whether the economy takes a dump or not.

Thanks to my upbringing and some internal limiting beliefs, I never thought I would own more than a few rentals.