New to the rental market - need advice how to screen tenants and steps to lease

[Melissa D.]

I have 5 showings this weekend for prospective tenants for a condo I own.  I used Zillow Rental Manager to list it.  Seems pretty easy to use.  But I am reading mixed reviews on Zillow's background check.  What is best practice for screening and verifying income?  Should I be handing the prospect an actual printed application to sign to is it better to do everything electronically and do through a third party?  Is the Zillow Rental Manager lease agreement an acceptable document to use once I approve someone? This will be my only rental for a while so I'd like to keep it as simple as possible.