And I believe thats solely because of my belief in needing to push out turnover as far out as possible every month.

I'm now at the point where I have two applicants that can move in for July and I'm having a tough time choosing between two of them.Application 1 (3 related + 1 friend) - application was submitted first ProsPlenty of income to pay - 5x+2 with great credit (>700)work with a friend who gave a good reference1 attended the same religious institution i did so I'm less inclined to think they would mess up the unit which could be naive 1 year of rental history with no issues paying a fairly higher renthigh job security (family business)Conshigher chance of short term rental - I'm basing this on their young age and the fact they could easily decide to move out on their own2 with bad credit (<600)Young - early twentiesbasement will need to be used as an additional bedroompotential parking issues (4 cars)"kiddish" rooms would need to be repaintedApplication 2 (1 adult + 4 kids)Proshigher chance of long term rental (>3 years) - I say this because the last two locations this person stayed for 3 and 4 years only to leave when the houses were soldfit to the house - in that the rooms are decorated "kiddish" now and don't need to be modified at all ie. repainted, etc)paid same rent for over 7 years w/no issuesCons43% of income to rentBad credit (<600)  - I'm told this is the result of issues with the absentee parentI should also say i have a relative who is a lawyer involved in real estate so he's prepared my lease and helped me out with what can be done legally etc.

For some reason, there is a belief that the housing market is broken and the greedy LL is to blame.  

Ironically, at a job I had a long time ago, it was the religious folk who were the least reasonable.For what it's worth, my opinion is to deny them, which you can legally do.  

Only grow as fast as you feel comfortable, contrary to belief real estate will not make the average person a millionaire overnight.  

In addition hobby landlords have a mistaken belief that the term of a lease in some way has a bering on when tenant will choose to leave.

But nice to know we're "buttercups"  He is talking to you buttercup.Most of us DO NOT have all our eggs in the STR basket contrary to your belief.

It appears as though a common set of beliefs of yours through this entire discussion:1 - Cash flow can't cover vacancy. 

But make sure that they understand that you'll be removing the property from the market based on the belief that they intend to enter into this lease agreement and that if they fail to do so they'll be forfeiting their entire holding fee to you as liquidated damages. 

You have to accept that a belief you held or choice you made was incorrect.