Your water bill should provide a usage history, and you can show this to the tenants letting them know any cost in excess of (average usage +X%) will be billed to them monthly.The real problem here being that the Tenant is going to end up destroying your W/D.  

My wife and I are moving out of the country for a military obligation, and I was wondering what specific authorizations I should grant to the future PM?  

Is it able to differentiate between someone with a made up SSN, and someone with no credit history?

I hire property managers to collect rent and remit to the mortgage company - I get them the authorization to speak with the mortgage company, as long as the lender gets their monthly check they are happy.  

If you see my post history you can see some of the forays into finding deals.

I have a business banking relationship as well as personal with Wells so perhaps I will start there.I guess this is typical, but the seller requires a contract before allowing viewing of the property, of course this would be contingent upon loan, inspection, etc. but I have yet to view property number 2. as far as property number 1 I have seen the units and their may be issues with gas wall heaters, but they are neat and clean with a long history of rental

if you have a part time job and have a 2 year history of working both jobs simultaneously , you can include that income.Good luck!

Having various types of credit/debt (credit card(s), mortgage, car loan, signature loan, etc) with impeccable repayment history will eventually get your score to the 800+ range. 

If you are on year 8 of 10 year visa, and your development plan is 5 years....they may wonder what happens in years 3-5....I have seen lenders turn people down for timing, even if there is history of renewals, etc.  

What documents do they require, what credit scores do they allow, how do they verify previous rental history, etc.?