There is no major development nearby, the house itself has no improvement either.

I have seen the growth of this area, the nearby towns, and Austin first hand. 

We are looking for some advice on nearby markets near Ottawa that may be good candidates to get started.

She doesn't live that close to me, but her job is nearby. 

Or atleast meeting up with people from markets nearby

If you find a place that will cash flow less than your $200 mark, talk to property management companies that have properties near by and ask them about your rental expectations. 

First post it on market place for FREE, then boost it for $1 a dayApartments.com is Costar so they kind of work, but just use the free service unless you got over 50 units to rent, the ads are Very expensive Apartment Guide will fill up lower end budget type apartments fast if thats whet you got. if you dont, stay away from them, If you are by a college, filter your audience to students and faculty of that same college (and also add the nearby employers) on face book, do a compelling post on your business Facebook website (not your personal, keep those lurkers off your personal facebook) then filter-filter filter be creative .

Look forward to hopefully meeting you at one of the nearby events!

I like the idea of having tenants nearby to monitor and take care of things as needed.

I've already learned there is a lot more within the scope of such a project than I initially expected including removing existing structures being more expensive than I thought, hard costs being $150-200k per unit, soft costs at 30-40%, parking areas, landscaping, construction insurance, financing costs, elevator(s), sprinklers, fire code compliance, utilities, lead and asbestos abatement, any other site-specific stuff like an EIS if you have any environmental issues associated with the existing properties or wetlands nearby, holding period because you may need to wait several years for those commercial leases on the gym, yacht and electrical companies to end, etc., lots of costs and variables to consider on something like this, I'm just beginning to learn.