I'm giving back a security deposit for a 1-year lease that just ended (Have since switched to fees).

Every No-credit-no-job-no-money-no-worries pitch I've come across starts with suggesting that it's easy to start with Wholesaling, which would mean that you wouldn't be buying this property for yourself, but, you just need to get it under Contract for next-to-no deposit, and then assign that Contract to an end-Buyer for thousands of dollars more/profit on closing day!

I did offer shorter closings and a higher earnest deposit which I think is a great way to put you ahead of other financed offers (<--pro-tip) but this comes with slightly greater risk and I'd only advise if you have strong and almost guaranteed financing in place. 

I subtract it from the deposit if I select them as a tenant otherwise I don’t do anything.

* What do you do to ensure that the tenant is responsible for security deposit disputes since that is the largest reason for owner lawsuits* How familiar are you with the newly changed laws that can affect you the owner if they are not used correctly?

Think of all the things that could go wrong and see if the lease addresses them: unauthorized pets or tenants, early termination, security deposit, lease violations, late rent, eviction, lawn maintenance, parking, etc.5.

I have my first propsective tenant who has put down a deposit to hold along with his application.

On the high end, I'd charge first and last month's rent up front and 1.5X rent for security deposit.

It sucks, but it's possible that the rational thing to do is let her stay.... and keep 100% of the security deposit when she leaves. 

Investor money (downpayment) came from a paypal software engineer and ceo of a china based pharmaceutical company. while in rehab (super ugly at the time), I rented each unit out for 2800 starting in January and collected first months rent and deposits for a cool 8400/month for the entire building.