In fact, many things will be revealed you had no idea existed.

Begin the relationship on a positive win-win note.As for screening tenants, your reply post suggest your are overstating your thoughts or have been sadly misled.Learning how to have an informative casual conversation with the prospective tenant and then listening more than talking is more revealing than all the paperwork will reveal.

A title search (usually done by a title company or attorney, but lay people who know their way around the records office can pull their own) will reveal any recorded liens on the property.

However as you get closer together they will eventually reveal their actual MAP.Do not be afraid to submit lots of low-ball offers to find where their true MAP is.  

This can be quite revealing ...

It also can reveal a more about the buyer and his/her capacity to close.Usually the offer contingent upon a satisfactory roof inspection and report.

Additionally, a title search ($100 or so) will reveal the liens on the property.

About 6 years ago I made the decision to move outside of the United States. I researched and visited a lot of different countries before I picked Panama. Once I found my tropical mountain paradise, many friend...

An up front conversation should have revealed exactly what was going to happen.In the interest of full disclosure, I've both borrowed and lent hard money and have money invested now with a hard money broker making these loans.If anything unethical happened in this example, it was the lack of up front clarity.I found out after I had the deal in place that I needed to pay for the appraisal, inspection, and survey for the HML,This is true of any mortgage loan, not just hard money.

As for recommended books, the questions has been asked hundreds of times and a quick search of the forums will reveal a lot of threads with great book lists.