Thats your bonafides to being able to do future deals.As mentioned above, keep your credit perfect.

I have two banks that have done so as well as a credit card, and know of a couple of organizations that have as well.

I'm 53, married with 2 kids less than 17 years old with debt only from purchases on credit cards and my home.

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

If the applicant comes from the pool of people that I or my tenants know, I use real estate as a way to give back as many of my tenants will not qualify credit wise or may even have a criminal background or would struggle for another reason if I were to just stick to the "background/credit check" criteria. 

Ask for a line of credit.  

• Is this a better strategy than using your own name, capital and credit to start out?

Use gap funding (credit lines, partners) for the down payment.

Did you finance this deal with a local bank or credit union?

It was a personal referral, received a credit at closing for renovations as well How did you finance this deal?