Dealing with a persistent applicant

[Amit M.]

I am using Zillow to receive applications and screen prospective tenants. I have received some inquiries for viewing and 1 application. The applicant has been very persistent on wanting to check out the property. He says he wants to move to the area because of the schools. He even offered to pay a few months rent in advance. That was definitely a red flag. There are other comparable listings which are still available in very close proximity (same schools). 

Zillow background checks returned clean (no criminal background). The credit score is stellar (750-800). The income (business) is a little tough to project, but, the last couple of years of income has been well above the requirement (3x). However, a search on google returned a lawsuit (small claims court) against one of the landlords in the past. The lawsuit is for having deducted a very big amount from the security deposit for cleaning. This may or may not be a big deal since I have have been in a tenants shoes before and I can understand if the tenant feels (rightly so or not) they have been unreasonably charged for cleaning a house they felt was left in immaculate condition. I do intend to call the landlord to find out more. I suspect this is the reason he is having a tough time finding a rental despite all other checks being good.

I am a little on the fence on this applicant. On one hand he may be a very stable tenant since his options outside are limited. On the other hand I am wondering what do I not know about this applicant. 

I am also questioning the  use of Zillow for screening, it's not clear to me why this lawsuit is not reported in the Zillow background reports. Thinking of switching to mysmartmove.com (SmartCheck Premium plan) for screening.