Turbo Tax or any crank out your tax program isn't considering future ramifications of your current tax elections, it won't address inventory accounting methods such as LIFO or FIFO (look it up) where economic conditions may be applicable to your operations, Section 179 isn't always the best approach.The only "issue" I see with the comment by @Ted Lanzaro is that his statement wasn't qualified fully, saying less than $150,000, that should have been mentioned with an income of being greater than say %45,000 because if you don't have any real income you sure aren't going to save thousands.

I am currently assessing numerous leads and I want to know my options for financing.

I am familiar with the standard Zillow and alike applications.

They stress test the property numbers, specifically at the balloon point (if applicable), and will not lend if the property does not meet their underwriting criteria.  

(The vacancy numbers are weighted by county specific vacancy counts, not a numeric average of county vacancy rates.)I put a link to the source of the data at the end.2019 Proj Total Population (& annual growth)1,255,325+0.86%2014 Proj Total Population1,203,7352010 Census Total Population1,162,386July 2015 Certified Population Estimate (NC only)1,190,4732010 Census Total Population: Urban627,87254%2010 Census Total Population: Rural534,51446%As for housing, the 2010 vacancy numbers reflect the impact of the Great Recession.

Do most apartments use third parties to screen applicants?

To further clarify, the investment property will be purchased with100% cash that was obtained from the HELOC so there would be no loan applications at the time of initial purchase.  

But even that site has caveats, is clearly sampling only SFRs (not reasonable in high density metro areas) and assumes a $1,000 rent which not even a national average nor applicable in many cities.If only this kind of analysis could be automated and kept up to date and be more inclusive.

I’m thinking I should have the two brother fill out applications and if they pass have all three sign new lease and not extend time.

Just keep reading, listen to the podcasts if you haven't started already(SO motivating and filled with a wealth of applicable information) thanks @Joshua Dorkin and @Brandon Turner.