I do not have a lot of money for an earnest money deposit, so what should I be saying to my sellers to lock up the contract quickly? 

Deposit on the room, take photos before move in, and only rent month to month.. if someone doesn't work out your not stuck with them FOREVER

Lost rent checks, late deposited rent checks, 3 weeks to get a check to pay a contractor.  

What does that exactly mean because the bank told us that means instant equity.

Seems strange to buy something with zero repairs and instant equity of 52k especially in our hot market.

As I am screening applicants, one of the applicants has low credit score (500+), no bankruptcies, no evictions but has late payments.a) Tenant is willing to put down 1.5 month security deposit (state allowed maximum) and 4 months of rent in advance.

The fact that they are purchasing the house at current value is a benefit for them in LO and they are paying for that with the option deposit and higher rent.

The only downside is waiting about 7 days for the deposit but that is a non issue to me.  

Most SDIRA custodian/ administrators will require you to fill out a form to allow them to deposit the money into your IRA.5.

They want to see two years bank statements with rent deposits (small problem as some is paid via PayPal with debit cards, some is deposited to two different bank accounts and some of course cash that I put straight to expenses (or a weekend boat trip now and again :-).