I am all for not collecting them to reduce liability and making the credit check a soft inquiry so it doesn't hurt the applicant but if you collect the SSN when signing the lease how do you verify that it is their actually SSN and not just a made up number?

However they could verify all of my income information.

You could also have an agent do a search for properties that have sold in the last 3-6 months in the MLS, then get their contact info and go to Been Verified and get their phone number. 

My first thought on this is yes, you will want to have representation of some type, especially if you are not an agent yourself and cannot get on site to verify the property.

I'm a contractor,& have worked with Realtors extensively.have your Realtor ask around the office for someone that does repairs/inspection punch list items, they will be able to clean up that mess for you at a MUCH lower priceYou most likely won't have black mold, but Dawn dish washing soap will cleanse everything of mold"Home inspectors will verify"secondly, after all the moisture,& suspected mold has been cleaned/dried, you can simply use good sealer/primer on wood,& concreteI would guestimate around $3,000-$6000 for the entire job including hardwoodsMake sure you block any air intrusions in the crawlspace areas, Colorado can be hard on water lines :O}

The agent told me he's waiting for a contractor to give him a bid for repairs so he can verify what I'm saying it needs and what it's going to cost.

These lenders will usually have a place of business that you can go to, have a website of some kind, have a professional email account that's not gmail, have a license or professional credentials of some kind, or have done verifiable loans to someone else I know.

Now if it were a commercial property with verifiable cap rate comps then EVERY property is a viable opportunity AT MARKET CAP RATE. 

My claim is easy to verify as you can look up the appreciation on San Diego real Estate for a wide range of years and compare the appreciation to other markets and compare just the appreciation to what could be expected in cash flow in a better cash flow locale. 

Would this be your only verifiable income?