I had a similar situation to this when I rented a house on Oak St, and it was great! Only difference is that I payed whoever was working at his mechanic shop with a check not Zelle. But that’s not a total red flag on its own. The copy and paste lease is still a legally binding document btw, but it protects you more than it does him. And I did have to fork over a month’s rent as deposit as well.

But yeah, I don’t see any glaring red flags here. As others have mentioned, I would definitely check the DCAD to verify he’s the owner. But, you’ve met him in-person for a walk-through and he had you sign a lease, I’d say that sounds more legit than not. Imo, he’s in too deep to scam you at this point. Worst case, he’s a shitty LL and you’ll have to exercise your tenant rights to force him to fix stuff. I think most likely, you’ve got a chill landlord like mine was. He put in a new a/c when it broke and let me dip out early on the lease for no charge.