I've had two occasions where the reference they listed told me not to rent to them because they were violent, late payers, or too needy.Not doing a criminal, credit, background check, which might have revealed criminal or credit problemsBeing slow to evict (mentioned by others)Believing their sob storiesAccepting partial paymentsFailing to document every conversation or interactionNot walking through the property to make sure they're taking care of it (I now walk through every 9 months so I can see problems in different seasons)We've found crack pipes and other paraphernalia after they moved outWe've discovered piles and piles of trash (some bagged, some not) in closets, basements, sheds when trash cans and pickup service are included in their rent - all they had to do was carry it out, at no cost to themWe've Found smokers, pets, extra peopleOverall, I've had great success as a property investor. 

I think the Apartments.com one used to be Cozy and it seems like it has additional functionality (especially around maintenance requests)Second question: Anyone used the applications feature (credit score, background, eviction, criminal, etc) of either of those two sites?

I have also heard that the likelihood of a person having a criminal history correlates with the FICO score.

Aside from providing the basics (ie. listing tool to get the property published to 10+ major sites, scheduling tool to schedule viewings, tenant screening with comprehensive applications -- pulled reports from TransUnion, which include nationwide criminal background checks + credit checks + eviction history, digital lease creation tool, rent collection tool, and maintenance tracking tool), some tools also make it so that your tenants have additional capabilities which makes it an easier sell on your end when getting them to transition over (ie. their ability to report on-time rent payments to the credit bureaus; this can create an added incentive for making sure they pay that rent on time).

Take photo from at least two different angles so I can see every section of fence, all trees, etc.Exterior photo of all four sides of the home.

We list a brief qualification criteria in our rental ads which includes 3 times the monthly rent, have no evictions, clean background check, no violent criminals, and have good credit history and 650+ credit score.I have seen examples of Adverse Action Notices that list a bunch of check boxes for reason of denial such as Unable to verify required minimum income, eviction filing or judgement, no credit file, criminal record, delinquent past or present obligations, does not meet minimum required Credit Score etc.

If they sell it, and they are in a 0% tax bracket, there is no tax for them.Potential problems:once you gifted it to them, it is theirs, and they don't have to sell it, and they don't have to give you the $50k profit, eitherif they do give you back the $50k, it has a potential of being busted by the IRS, even though the IRS will probably never know about itbut if they do, you run a risk (pretty small, but still) of a criminal case against you, which is something I personally would never riskthe property becomes subject to claims of your parents' creditors.

There is a $30 fee per applicant and we will run a complete credit/criminal background, check landlord references, verify income, etc.

In fact, they should be reported to the authorities for what I consider criminal behavior and at minimum for bait and switch practices and failure to properly disclose.

its all about criminal and do they pay their cell bill..