The tenant proactively requested help in paying their rent2. 

… $1.2MWith head shaking, I responded that he didn’t just buy a $1.2M property from an old woman who was unable to pay her taxes for $80k.

You put in the terms of the lease, the tenant name and email and MySmartMove sends out the background check request and the tenant fills in all their information and pays for the check which is now $44/applicant.

Seller is paying $5,000 of closing costs and a $5000 credit towards a contractor for repairs found during inspection.Here is the part that is bothering me...

Many times the tenant would not pay their portion of the rent on time if at all.  

These are very personal decisions.I can't tell you how many times I had a seller pay me to go in and redo kitchens and baths, and then get called back by the new buyer to redo the brand new custom work....just because of color.I would just put the house on the market and price it a little high, maybe $20k...?

Many of the properties in more desirable areas (and higher potential for appreciation) would allow me to pay just about the same that I am renting right now after considering every expense under the sun (PITI, vacancy, PM, capex, maintenance, etc etc).

What are you paying them for?

In my opinion, that is a total waste.Instead, I would pay 100% attention to who I am speaking with at the time, remember their name, remember 1-2 talking points about them.

You do not need to pay a lot of money for the information that he provides.If you go to his seminars it is mostly just upselling to get you to buy into another program that will provide you with the information missing from the current program.