Do a background check.

You would need to choose between what is more important.... owning the listing or owning a STR that is dominating the market it's located in, by maximizing the tools available to manage the property.

You can't just start a syndication as a GP with no background in investing so I don't know your play here.

I am a realtor in Milwaukee that specializes in working with investors, and I also have a portfolio of rental properties myself.I will get to your questions, but here is some background regarding loans and in general. - If you are NOT buying the property as your primary residence (in this case, it sounds like it will be an out of state rental), you are looking at putting 20% - 25% down if you are going to use a conventional mortgage.

What source do you use for:- screening criminal background- how much they make- any step by step that would be good to get them in. 

If someone will do that without knowing your why, your background, your skillset, they may have an ask for you and that is what you want to avoid.

Since my property is in a D area most of prospective tenants don't like to fill out background/credit checks let alone pay for them.

Fill in the blanks, check a box or two, and send it off.TransUnion is one of the best screenings out there, but most criminal records and evictions are not public record and won't show on a background check.

Due to my background in consumer lending, I am highly skeptical of paystubs and other address verification due to the widely available websites that are out there to generate forms relatively easily... so I like to verify the information by contacting the listed employer using their listed number on Google to avoid possibly calling a friend etc. 

Documentation provided by the crowdfunding platform provided background checks on the managing GP and the LLC that was set up to hold the properties (separate LLCs for each), but not on any of the co-GPs.