I had a couple applications come in from people that had not viewed the property or even messaged me and I denied them.

I applied with 5 banks/credit unions or so just to compare my options and have gotten denied by 3.

Parks require water and you may get everything right and signed only to have the water board deny you for reasons unknown to you.

My advice is to provide everything and add additional verbiage to your lease to make sure the tenants are responsible for not abusing the appliances AND do mid lease inspections to ensure they are not abusing the property.

If you insure it as a Rental Dwelling, and they find out your living there, they could deny coverage on a claim. 

We don’t have access to any more cash right now and I have been denied a loan for the cash.

In my state you are also able to deny if allowing the animal would be an "undue burden" but I'm not sure what that would mean exactly.You are also entitled to require "demonstration of need".

It was a simple, reasonable request, which you are free to deny.

But some clearly and thoroughly abuse the power and use it to manipulate and lie. 

This is the simplest method, but it also means your tenants are more likely to abuse the utilities by leaving windows open with the heat or A/C running, leaving lights on, ignoring the toilet that constantly flushes on its own, etc.3.