Stop people you see actively working Ask friends, family, social media (FB, LinkedIn, etc.)Go to Home Depot EARLY (6 AM) and see who is there getting a jump on the dayAlways provide people with a clear punchiest and get multiple bids so you can compare apples to apples. 

Full reno, all new modern furnishings, added additional 400 sq ft heated space through single car garage conversion to rec space complete with glass garage door with views of mtns, large flat screen tv, bar area , foosball & darts What was the outcome?

No tv, no problems.

When comparing apples to apples across the board with different lenders you will need to know what the interest rates are, what % down you will be using, what the total lender fees are, any points being charged & what loan product specifically you are looking at. 

What about cloud storage, such as iCloud if you are an Apple/Mac user. 

@Bryan Milian1- One month of market research on major metro areas2- Two weeks of talking to leading agents in your top 3 markets3- Four weeks of learning the markets4- Offer, offer, offer- stick to fundamentals...long-term buy-and hold small MF (your available cash will be the number one factor in determining what you can afford and what locations you will end up buying in...you'll be comparing apples to apples in your top 3 markets...as long as you have a top agent, you'll be golden)Best of luck 

Seems like using sites such as land.com, landflip.com, landwatch.com, and landcentury.com to find comps is one approach but what if there aren't any apples-to-apples comps? 

I feel like finding good comps is a both a way to see if I might be interested in, or have a deal by doing a rough ARV calculation using price per sq/ft, but also my rehab costs are centered around a solid ARV and I don't want to be mislead by comparing apples to oranges. 

Be careul of those mixing apples & oranges above.You asked what is a typical Placement Fee.

And the underlining assumption is tax treatment differences will make big difference.I own rental properties and invested in syndication and to me, it's comparing apples to oranges.As Tony mentioned, you typically get a large passive loss in MF syndication the first year which offsets your distributions for many years (no tax). with direct ownership, you get to write off all the things OP listed above, so you typically end up with very small or no tax liability (at least in my experience).