lol.With all of these applicants, criminal, credit and landlord references have come back clean/excellent.Applicant 1: First to apply, 3 room mates from out of state.

You know how to get quick credit when you need it and I suspect we're all in the position of knowing some local people who have been in this business longer than us who are mostly in the business of quiet and quick private lending on the downlow these days.Of course, as @Jay Hinrichs points out, you had better be extremely conservative with your debt as well, understand that running cheap properties as a get-rich-quick scheme never works out for anyone but criminals.

Another option is looking to see if Chicago has an Apartment Association (assuming they do).When I started in real estate my local Apartment Association, as a perk for paying around $75 a year membership, not only provided me with a lease created to adhere to local laws (it's a really good lease), along with paperwork for other things as well (notices, eviction paperwork, lease renewals, etc.) but they also provide low-cost credit and criminal checks so when I screen a potential tenant it only costs me $13 for state and $18 for federal. 

That should show criminal activity and eviction history in state.

Just tell him that you are denying him based on his criminal record that you just became aware of. 

You can also go to the city or county websites and search for civil cases and sometimes even criminal cases online.Have fun!

Applicants with criminals for relatives and friends aren't a protected class. 

The cheapest option they offered was an online tool, where I could run the checks - eviction, criminal, credit.  

They (married couple with kids)  submitted their application online which is our normal process, paid the application fee and all the reports (credit, criminal, eviction) look stellar, plus good income with a job at our big hospital in town.

Aside from credit, be sure to look at a nationwide eviction report and nationwide criminal report.