Can anyone provide other tips on how to get a grasp on rental prices in my area?

I'm in the central New Jersey are, just wanna hear from other people around me , deals , tips and what there doing

I am all for not collecting them to reduce liability and making the credit check a soft inquiry so it doesn't hurt the applicant but if you collect the SSN when signing the lease how do you verify that it is their actually SSN and not just a made up number?

I am looking for responses from people that has used credit unions in the Chicagoland area and surrounding suburbs for HELOCS.

So, I've been looking at the site more for additional tips, tricks and anything I can learn. 

None of the three met my criteria (one failing on credit, income AND background), one lied about income, and one couldn't prove income.  

So to recap, in my pretty house model, doing a wall to wall rehab, all floors, kitchen baths, walls will allow me to set a record on the rents, and when it comes time to advertise I attract the tenant with the higher credit/income and  I would like to add that in March I closed on a SFR in Embassy Hills Port Richey for $51,000 A 2/1/1, 1100 SF.   

Any tips on the most useful tools to get to know quickly would be greatly appreciated. 

I'm bringing the 20% cash down but no credit rating /external cash flow and they are bringing a credit rating and full time job - ie the loan.  

My first submission I used up this appraisal credit only to be shot down.