Also, how do I screen/pre-check a company to see if they are a good company?

I think if you start screening people for anything other than credit score, you're asking for trouble.If someone has a good credit score, why would you turn them down? 

Make sure you do a good job screening the tenants.

Is it climbing, decreasing or staying relatively flat as we have gone through the covid situation

Here is what I did: 1) screened interested parties heavily prior to inviting them to see it. 2) took my husband with to the showing... so he could wait outside for the next party (I schedule my appointments to show my units every 30 minutes). 3) I attached this message to their appointment invitation: “Out of respect for the current tenant (due to the Covid-19 situation), would it be possible for you to come without children & wear a face mask?”

Most malls in my area are large flat buildings over large acerages of land.

we are budgeting flat rent for next 2 years.

They may do a short initial consultation and then charge a small upfront flat fee (again, a few hundred bucks?)

We plan to do our normal full screening with the typical leeway offered to Section 8 tenants (i.e., lower standards for income). 

I have started managing my grandparents rental properties, and they have never preformed background checks or any pre-screening for tenants.