For this post, the long story short is that no cats were on the application but lo and behold, there are 4 cats in the house during my first inspection.

No free weeks, no reduced deposit, etc.

deposited in a demand deposit account?  

They offer a $10K repair fund to fix damages in addition to SD plus warranty for appliance repair etc.I have no say in whom they choose to move in, whether there are animals, limit on # of occupants etc. they reserve right to inspect property so i have no idea if they can tell me to remodel, paint etc.does this make sense i have a vacancy coming up in October (bad rental timing).

If you really want to get rid of them, sweeten the pot by offering to return their deposit after you verify the unit is empty with no damages. 

There are NO minimium balances. 

Stairs are the only way to get in, no grab rails in the bathroom, ramps that are too steep, etc.From what I've read, all commercial businesses/buildings (including ones before the ADA was passed) have to comply with the rules, unless it would be outrageously tough to fix (like installing an elevator in an already built building).Are all these local business just not complying and taking the risk, or am I missing something? 

We have some $ saved  but don’t have enough to put a full 20% deposit down as needed by most conventional lenders.

I was able to turn my place into two units so no shared spaced helped a lot. 

You will receive the security deposit in Checking but then transfer it to Savings.Savings: Hold the deposit here so it's separate from operating funds.