Help with out-of-area renters

[Wei Xie]

After listing my rental 2500sqft SFR for a few days, I got an inquiry today from a couple who plan to move into my area. They lived here before and want to move back and settle. They viewed the photos online and said they liked the house very much and wanted to proceed with application. They cannot fly in town to view the house before the actual move but suggested that they have a close friend here who may help. My questions are that 1. Is it natural for people out-of-town to skip house seeing and commit to a lease? I feel better as they lived in this town before but the whole situation still makes me little uneasy. I did a google search and found their business website, which seems legit. In general, what do you do with such kind of applicants? Any extra precautions that landlords should heed in addition to the standard tenant screening? 2. One of the spouses is self-employed. How do you deal with this situation and what are a good criteria to ensure income stability? Thank you all in advance! Wei