The service we normally use for tenant screening doesn't offer anything for Canadinans. 

I charge for them, because so many of the deals don't pan out.I charge my time plus scope of work, usually works out to be about $275-$500 depending on size of property and how large it is. 

Thanks @Jack Butala - it was more nerve wracking to type this intro from behind a screen than it is in real life to me! 

My listing agent gave me 1 comp for a property that was also fixer upper but was zoned R2 and was on a lot twice the size.

The appraisal alone for a property of this size is going to run $4k+ if I had to bet.

What size property are you looking at?

Any stories to share on tenant screening or unit turn-over? 

Looking to get some clarity on this matter -- a lot of people on BP suggests a percentage method, which I think can be a miscalculation for cheaper and older SFHs because a lot of capex is fixed, but rental income, size of house, vintage of house, type of neighorhood factors into the calculation.

Coming in at a whooping $20,000, and rent in the area for an apartment that size being $950 a month, you can see why I say this would be a great acquisition.

There are too many variables to give a one-size fits all answer.Personally, I would put $1M into commercial syndications (money backed by a hard asset that historically performs well in market turmoil) and diversify the remaining $1M across notes, NNNs, SFHs and some S&P 500 index funds.