Despite that, their hospital just underwent major renovations and they've just completed a brand new mental health care facility set to open this month.  

It's a health department thing.

I was constantly worried about losing my company paid health insurance, but soon I was earning enough money to buy my own.

On the longer term tenant, you could enforce the terms of the lease agreement on pets, smoking and cleanliness and, if they comply, keep them or provide notice at the time of lease renewal and, if they don't comply, terminate the lease for noncompliance and provide notice.

The sellers are an elderly couple in poor health and have conveyed to me how badly they need to sell the property.

That said, the previous tenants in those units were easy to decide that I didn't want to renew their leases when they came up - i.e. often late on rent, got dogs when no pets were allowed, left trash around the property, etc.  

A lot of people bought pet rocks, doesn't make it right.

Financial HealthUnderstand the financial health of the borrower – do you have any indicators that show the deal going bad?

@Daniel, why don't you go get your own life and health license and play around with various life insurance quoting softwares and do it yourself? 

I deduct cost from deposits and if funds exhausted, I front the balance due pro's and make tenant pay storage to retrieve.In my highly litigious state (CA) it's essential to err on the side of caution because people will form attachments to things left behind, (including pets!)