In the FormView control, if the select statement returns 0 records the whole EditItemTemplate will not be rendered in the page, also if you don't have at least 1 input control in the EditItemTemplate the same story will happen; the template will not be rendered.
In your second post : <EditItemTemplate>
Some Test TEXT!!!
<h3>Applicant Info:</h3>
</EditItemTemplate>
will never rendered in the page, cause it doesn't have any input control (text box, dropdown ..etc)
The InsertItemTemplate will not be rendered also if you don't have at least 1 input control.
So, all what I could think about is to make sure the select command will return at least 1 record and make sure to have at least 1 input control in the Insert/Edit ItemTemplate(s) - just like the 1st post.