Clearly no one in their right might would be like "No I don't rent to your race", but if someone has a substance abuse issue I'm thinking that you might not be able to simply say no because you think that sounds risky.

The penalties for even minor, inadvertent, breaches, with no harm to the tenant, are draconian.

Especially if I see a chance of them getting harmed.

No harm in paying that bill later, and freeing up more depreciation down the road. 

My credit score is great right now, just opened a credit card earlier this week and I know there’s a 14 period where I could pull credit multiple times without harming my credit.Being in this position, I want to get preapproved for the rental but not sure if I should wait out a bit Anything I should be aware of before?

We don’t know any PMCs to recommend in the area mentioned, but since selecting the wrong PMC is usually more harmful than selecting a bad tenant, you might want to read our series about “How to Screen a PMC Better than a Tenant”:https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/3094/91877-how-to-screen-a-pmc-better-than-a-tenant-part-1-services-and-processesWe recommend you get management contracts from several PMCs and compare the services they cover and, more importantly, what they each DO NOT cover.

If she's asking you for a ledger of rent payments I don't see any harm in it.

We don’t know any PMCs to recommend in the area mentioned, but since selecting the wrong PMC is usually more harmful than selecting a bad tenant, you might want to read our series about “How to Screen a PMC Better than a Tenant”:https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/3094/91877-how-to-screen-a-pmc-better-than-a-tenant-part-1-services-and-processesWe recommend you get management contracts from several PMCs and compare the services they cover and, more importantly, what they each DO NOT cover.

It didn't cost me anything to ask...Again, depending upon your situation, if you thought the $500 bill would harm the relationship with the tenant you might consider going halvsies with them on it. 

Appraisers simply ask themselves if the property condition is up to par with comps in the area and this is a question that harms you more than it helps you.