Additionally, there are some good websites where you can pay for credit checks and/or criminal background checks.

Have you tried to obtain an unsecured line of credit with your new business in addition to your loan? 

Be prepared to not get paid much for a couple months while you get things going, and then be prepared for the market to change and give you a dry spell.Some common expectations with having a RE license is that you'll work in a professional industry full of professional people that treat this like a business and treat colleagues as such; However that's not really how it goes.  

There are also line of credit type options that may work for you. 

Or can I just state that their credit score falls well below my minimum threshold?

Any recommendations on the best preparation before a first purchase?

While the interest rate tightening does virtually nothing to the mortgage rates, it makes everything else; cars, credit cards, installment debt, more expensive and again, hurts already fragile debt ratios.Hope this gives you some food for thought.Stephanie

I know these things can happen, and I should be prepared for things to go wrong on occasion, but I am not willing to let the horror stories keep me from buying my first property, especially if I have systems in place to hopefully minimize the risk of putting these types of tenants in my properties. 

What if you wouldn’t typically rent to this person (employment , credit score , etc) and now he’s on the lease, they split, and he’s a problem and won’t leave bc “he is on the lease”.

@Paul Daniels those are the two methods most often used, but if you do not want to go conventional or hard money, you would either have to go with private financing, or using some personal lines of credit you may have.