To summarize you recommend to just confirm equity and motivation and not do any qualification about what they would take over the phone.

In your ad, be sure to put qualifications you desire, i.e. non-smoking, good rental history, good credit score, pets OK, etc. 

@Christian Hutchinson Point blank, if you can't verify their income then they don't meet what is likely your primary qualification: their ability to afford the rent.

I understand what you're saying about the program potentially benefiting first time landlords by educating them on rudimentary aspects of property management, but for seasoned managers this is really just an inconvenience.At least in all the areas I am familiar with, landlords are permitted to include background checks in their qualification process and provide their own leases, with the terms being tailored to their preference (to the extent the terms are legally permissible).Perhaps I didn't do a great job presenting my question.

Broadly speaking, the 401k route offers far better features, but the qualification requirements are more stringent.

Unless they had some really awesome qualifications besides this (like an 800 credit score or 20k in the bank), I think I would pass. 

Please note, that your wife's DTI ratio will be determined by her income and her liabilities -- how title to the rental property is held does not affect the DTI calculation for loan qualification purposes.

:Qualification--like youDifferentiation--not many are doing it yetEase--makes it simple for my prospects to see the placeEase--for me, saves showingsCredibility--people see the videos and have rapport with me before I even meet themThey work--first time out I have a little success and want to build on it now

It is unrealistic but answer as much as you can.3) Have your voicemail explain the property, price, qualifications, etc.4) I do lots of pics and a video tour.

John Anderson Ryan Murdock thanks for the responses...from my reading there is no "qualification" for a service animal anyway, besides for documentation from a health care provider.I am concerned that I may suddenly get additional requests for service animals, but I just want to make sure that proactively notifying other tenants of a service animal would not be any sort of privacy violation for the tenant with the animal.