Is your DSCR ratio greater than 1-meaning are you cash flowing (according to the lender's criteria of mortgage, property taxes and insurance (and HOA) if applicable).

The logic here is that it’s far more difficult (and costlier) to evict a nonperforming tenant than it is to screen for a good one.Like @Greg Scott said, see if lowering your asking rent increases the number of applications you receive.

Sales agents typically don't have a lot of experience screening applications.

However, this is not applicable to standard M1-2 zones.Zoning Map Amendments: If the property is not in an MX district, pursuing a zoning map amendment to rezone the area to a district that permits residential use is an option.

we do a brief pre-application online before offering to physically show any apartments. 

Don't waste your time trying to explain or justify the applicant's behavior. 

I'm a web developer/ real estate investor and I just started playing with Dapps, is anyone else working on similar application?

Google Forms are nice to input cash transactions directly into spreadsheet, to get applications from tenants, to ask virtual assistants to enter data.

Place a job post and then filter through the applicants.

Their applications are the longest and have short time frames for work to be completed.