However, I plan on just charging a move-in fee.

The host purposed the idea of using a HELOC to pay off your high interest credit card (17%).

It's up to the tenant to ensure they have sufficient funds, if a Cozy payment fails or a check bounces I then charge the tenant a fee (assuming this causes it to be late).If you're really concerned you can take what @Jonathan Cope does one step further and require payments on, say, the 25th in your lease.

Being a mortgage broker we can't charge that much because it is illegal. 

Maybe I should have the manager bill the tenant for the water as it is part of the cleaning charge and necessary for the cleaning.  

Typical upfront fees would consist of Appraisal or BPO fee (3rd party charge) and maybe a document  deposit, after final approval is issued, to ensure that in the event of a last minute cancellation by borrower, legal fees are paid. 

Found them off the Quickbooks website under the Support/Find a QB ProAdvisor section and they basically held my hand through the whole process of how to do enter transactions, import my credit card statements online, cleaned up my chart of accounts, etc. 

Franklin,I believe that the traditional fees charged years ago have come down because of the sheer amount of people in the business, technology and the DIY people.

Are you allowed to charge tenants a non-refundable fee up front to help defray that cost?

I would say they have gone to the extreme now.https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/leg...It should be noted the govenment charges people with organized crime and drug dealing if they knowingly rent property for drug dealing or manufacturing.