You are safeguarded as long as you have the house under an option and the deal is papered up correctly (contract).

I compare it to the stock market if you don't have a sound strategy that you can implement eventually you will go broke with that method in economic downturns if you do not have safeguards in place.  

We worked with 3rd party companies like safeguard and Trueassets that lasted for like I said, 10 months until we realized that they didn't really want to pay us and would try at nothing to get out of it.Example being we would show up at a property that was overgrown with weeds and was badly in need of work.

Any other safeguards I need or things to look out for with a winterized house??

@Andrew WaskoI agree with @Wayne Brooks, make sure you have all the safeguards in place that insurance requires, and maybe even go overboard.

I'm just trying to figure out how to safeguard ourselves to the extent we can.

I wouldn't be comfortable just giving out a lock box code or key without adequate safeguards in place.

What safe-guards are in place to prevent someone from using student loans to invest in real-estate?

Rent to own has few if any safeguards for the renter....because he does not have title.

For my landlords out there- what are some of your tenant horror stories and what did you learn from them so you could put safe guards into place to avoid the same disaster with further tenants?