The tenant is a 50 year old widowed nurse 3 months into a two year lease.They changed their minds about renting the property after realizing they did not have enough VA entitlement left over to buy another house in CA.

It exposes some very questionable tactics in your business model (if you can call it that), and bragging about almost ripping off an elderly widower through the unlicensed practice of real estate does not paint you in a positive or professional light. 

But I 'm not sure that I can totally throw cap rates out the widow at least as an initial lens through which to filter potential properties.

He's an older gentleman, widowed and has a new girlfriend.

Sure,Take pics of the kitchen cabinets, ceiling, floors (all rooms, close ups) Pictures of shower ceiling (to check for mold), pics of the windows, both the widow and the install, doors, trim, hardware, bathroom  shower, look for cracks in basement, take pic, look for wavy ceiling.

Further research found that the widowed owner lived locally and this was the sole apartment complex that she owned.

They were much better than the widows that were there and the tenants are happy with them.

I was able to carefully choose my stays using the profiles and was able to meet and spend time with a priceless variety of people: people with cats, people with awkward teenagers or adorable tantrum-throwing urchins, people who lived in semi-restored historic ruins, bohemian weirdos with artsy communal lifestyles, widowed intellectuals with priceless antiques and hours to spare patiently correcting my grammar, people who forced me to eat and drink meals worth 3x what I was paying them, all of whom didn't speak (or agreed not to speak) a lick of Anglais. 

*90% of all estates of singe-widowed adults age 60 and over go through probate?

Really, it's just people who are inexperienced and uncomfortable talking with doneone who they are afraid might be grieving, While some certainly are, not all widows are grief struck.