Does this info I found on Facebook legitimately matter?

[Kelly Bellini]

I'm in the process of finding new tenants for one of our houses, and I've pretty much got it narrowed down to this single mom and her 3 kids.  But, there's just one thing bothering me, and I wanted to reach out to you guys to see if this is ACTUALLY a problem, and if I need to do anything about it.  When she came to see the house, she brought her "brother" with her, at least that's who they said he was.  He had a child, and she had her 3 children.  No problem at all.  I liked them all.  But then, I looked her up on Facebook, as I do with all potential applicants, and it actually said that she was "in a relationship" with him.  And he's not her brother.  I know this is her personal business, but I don't feel good about starting things off with what seems to be a lie.  Is there some reason to even lie about this, that I'm not thinking of?  I'm just confused, and I hate any red flags (obviously).  Should I ask her?  Or is that overstepping?  Was I even allowed to look on FB? Should I just let it go, and continue on with her credit/background check?  It seems that the only potential problem is if he moves in, and he's not on the lease, and I didn't credit check him.  But, why the lie???  Any thoughts you have are MUCH appreciated.  Thanks!!

[Adam Martin]

The reason she said it was her brother is it isn’t as likely that you would be concerned with him moving in as you would her boyfriend and wouldn’t raise a red flag.  I can almost guarantee he has evictions, some type of criminal record, or horrible credit, maybe even the trifecta.  He is going to be moving in that’s why he wanted to see it and of course you liked them they were on their best behavior.  People don’t lie unless they have reason to move on, I Facebook stalk every potential renter and it often changes my mind.  People are dumb in what they post I’ve seen drug use smokers saying they don’t smoke with pictures of it in the house and seen series of posts that make me wonder if they are even stable.  Trust your gut and keep moving.