I have a client right now looking to purchase a package of 12 properties (11 SFRs and a fourplex) totaling around $775k.

Best bet is to burn it down and start all over.

I've joined the two major landlord Facebook groups for Ontario and it's been an eye-opening reading experience.. the mechanics of screening tenants such as verifying income and credit are still a total unknown to me so I appreciate your advice.

Take a look around BP for the "90 day challenge" - plus I would bet on a number of upcoming resources and webinars designed to help people with buying their first property by the end of the year.If you've already done all that and are still struggling with which direction to go, the bottom line is that it doesn't matter.

Understand the fees involved and calculate the total cost for an entire year of management so you can compare the different managers.

When the total number of jobs is 637,000, this is only a small drop in the bucket, but it is a positive sign that you would look for in a market.If you create a spreadsheet like the one above yourself, you can literally put in any data points that matter most to you and compare from there.  

So after 2 years have 2 rental properties (4 tenants total).

It would be a win/win as my total costs could be reduced while more money goes to the seller (instead of a bank).Any insights on this, please let me know.

It seems to me that they already did the deal and you're out of luck.If I have a great deal with financing and tenant all lined up, you can bet I ain't wholesaling that to nobody!

At the end of the day I compromised a total of $625 out of my reserves for the down payment.