Yet I know that folks do find deals: Northern ON seems to cashflow a bit, duplex conversions in towns around GTA are still somewhat positive, etc.

You'll want to have a clear system and rules for how folks are billed.

I respond with "have you reviewed the requirements which include.....blah blah blah) and I rarely hear back from the majority of folks who initially sent a request to view the property.What you are doing is correct and a good timesaver to weed out those who do not meet your rent requirements.

Note that I have absolutely no problem with folks earning what they are worth (hey, power to you!)

All the rich folks had to have them.

As far as make or break, if you run your rental well in my area I think most folks do pretty good, because we have just about year round demand in this area, but to do REALLY well, you need the extra stuff I mentioned.

Do folks typically refinance to get this dropped at some point in time?

I have found working with appraisers to be the biggest wild card, glad there are some investor friendly folks like yourself near by. :)

If you go the OOS route then building a strong team with folks you trust is even more critical - especially your Realtor and Property Manager.

What tools or strategies to folks recommend to begin to analyze various markets?