Some have gone as far as to pay (through Zillow) for an application which includes a background check. 

We dont have statistics on this, but intuitively, we are seeing a measurable increase in the number of applicants moving to our suburban neighborhoods. 

The others are all good for free but I like the Zillow presentation, contacts and data.I had an applicant last year who used the Zillow application and I would love to see more potential tenants do that.

However, if the $20k was routine maintenance and repairs it should come out of the numerator as expenses, not added to the $50k denominator.

Being said, you MUST perform a thorough screening background check equally and fair on ALL applicants the EXACT same way to avoid being accused of discrimination.  

Submit a fake application and check for ease-of-use and quality of reports.

I would hate to have to go through the whole application and credit check to find out it's the same case.

We submitted the application the end of Feb. 

The applicants are from Los Angeles  and I live in Bay Area, California.  

If the landlord wants to hire a property manager to operate the property, he certainly can do so but for underwriting purposes it wouldn't be applicable to determine the value since a majority of investors buying single tenant absolute net leases will elect to self manage since they a merely collecting a NNN lease check and depositing it into their business account.