She qualifies for Section 8 but her monthly income is far less than 3x the monthly rent.I know Section 8 should guarantee rent gets paid on time each month, but I worry about her having the money to actually care for the property and yard while she's there.No past evictions and clean criminal background.Has anyone had a similar situation?

Why would a criminal crack the glass when kicking the door in would be easier and faster?

Have you done a criminal history check?

I ask what issues we will find when we check their credit and criminal record.

But I need some help figuring out what categories to even look at.I'm going to start with the basics: are they employed, how much do they make, what is their credit score, have they ever been evicted, do they have a criminal background, etc.  

Run their full credit, criminal, eviction background and the picture should become clearer for you. 

The problem with them is the limited number of apartments available compared to those who need them, and the violent criminal element using these places as homes between prison sentences making them dangerous to other who live there.So there are solutions, just not perfect solutions.Good Luck!  

As both a short and long term rental owner I’ll just add a few words of caution here...AirBnB and other vacation rental sites like HomeAway are great for the purpose they originated: short term rentals, but they offer minimal protection for the concerns of many owners needing to secure their properties for longer lease terms.As a traditional property manager I’m far more interested in ensuring I pull a full criminal background check, speak with a potential tenant’s present and prior landlord, confirm consistent employment/income sources for > 6 months, and ensure a potential tenant has a track record of paying other bills they have agreed to in writing like credit cards, car loans, and others.On the contrary, at best AirBnB/HomeAway/others give me the following info on guest/tenant: a blurry selfie (that could be their dog)confirmation of a non-specific government IDconfirmation of an email address I can’t seecurrent city/state of residencelist of reviews by individuals running a different AirBnB (that I have no way of confirming is not the guest’s best friend)Property insurance secured by (and in the interest of) someone who is not meWhile I’m OK with taking a gamble on unknown guests using my property for short term stays, stays of longer than 1 month generally involve: Someone looking to move significant belongings in with them (that I cannot legally remove in most states)Moving in for a period of time they’re generally unable to pay for entirely upfrontTenants receiving access only after a legally-executed lease, criminal, background, credit, and income check that’s par for the course in a professional, term stay arrangementEven beyond the blatant lack of risk mitigation tactics common in long term lease agreements, the fact remains that many STR platforms are also skimming 10-20% of gross revenue off the top of owners’ profits for little beyond the initial SEO and payment processing.

If you are managing it yourself, then absolutely meet them before letting them live in your investment.If you hire a good property management company, they will take care of the tenant screening by checking everything important like credit and criminal. 

.- Criminal record check is done.