One part of me  wants to give people a chance, but the other part of me can only imagine the worst, and foresee other tenants moving out after finding out their neighbor previously served time for stealing an airplane while assaulting people with explosives and stolen guns.

You don't need to worry about crime (unless you want really nice things that could get wrecked or stolen), think about the quality of neighbors and livability.  

You can use Craigs list but will no doubt have to buy signs  that get stolen and broken...

This is a detailed list of everything you own and information related to the cost to replace these items if they were stolen or destroyed and you may contact your agent also.

which would make more sense in a 1300 sq ft home....either way, 2 furnaces is ridiculous for a home of that size, plus one additional thing that can go wrong/be stolen

I would assume that all the hvac condensers and anything made of precious metals both outside as well as inside the buildings have been stolen.

The key to buying in low income areas is to avoid the areas where furnaces and pipes are stolen, imo.

If the concern is theft your video setup could be stolen along with what your trying to protect.

Who is liable if the tenant's money is stolen?

My guess is that in most cases, especially foreclosures, the utilities have either been disconnected due to non-payments and/or the plumbing / wiring / appliances have been stolen too!