They required me to have reserves, experience, describe what I would do with the property and they did an appraisal on the property. 

Avoid PMI and then go to a local credit union and get a heloc after closing to gift the money back.Have this as a tool in your tool belt but pursue use of the 3.5% FHA, knowing that you will be at a competitive disadvantage if you are competing with non FHA buyers, then you can call in the favor from your gift person.Just know that if someone gifts you down payment money, your bank will require them to sign a letter stating that it is in fact a gift that doesn’t need to be paid back.

I don't want to go back on my own word in any way, obviously, and had stated the lease was for a year.Now I plan to use apartments.com going forward for leases and rent collectionThe newest lease with a different tenant is plainly non-renewable and requires a new lease to continue tenancy after a year and outlines fee costs.

Is the sum of the cash flow and appreciation higher than your required return?

Rent control measures, burdensome employment regulations, and excessive administrative requirements exemplify this.

What documents do they require, what credit scores do they allow, how do they verify previous rental history, etc.?

The requirement to do this generally involves an experienced GC signing on the borrowing entity as a 20+% owner thus making them a signatory on the loan and responsible for the debt which in most cases is not very easy to find.

2 are not cashflowing with the required expenses for vacancy at 10%, repairs at 10% and capital expenditures at 5%.

Just make sure you have all the required permits, including alcohol.

Again, knowing nothing about this particular company, my bet is that type of company will require money up front just to consider whether they can help you out.