These checks are to protect you from undesirables - undesireables can be in the form of students too.

It sounds like your ad didn't set expectations (no evictions, no criminal history, etc.) of the tenant, so lots of undesirable candidates may be responding.

I don't think even the undesireable area of Decatur will get you there.

It really does not matter much with only a few rentals but as you grow in numbers and you have a higher number of undesirable tenant relationships or inherited tenants the advantages of M2M become very obvious.You are correct I do not invest in SFHs.

Usually when a place first shows up in MLS I will immediately get calls from the agents who have clients they can't place anywhere because they have issues that make them undesirable to landlords and ask if I can make exceptions, and they try to tell me how nice their clients are etc., to which I tell them if they meet the criteria attached to the listing in MLS there should be no issues and with Fair Housing Laws being what they are we can't make exceptions.

Unless you buy in undesirable areas.

I was peripherally familiar with Ducks vs Beavers ;)

From what I see in your post, the only issue thus far is expecting 20% down on an undesirable collateral type to most lenders...Cheers!

Sure its "worth" $2m according to Zillow but what if it sits on a lot that makes it undesirable to everyone shopping in that price range.   

I'd never thought of the idea of raising rents above market to prompt an undesirable tenant to leave.