This is usually considered a civil matter and the police won't touch it.I have had two incidents where the tenants did about $2,000 worth of damage (materials only).

No we screen our own.Here is our process.A search of court records to see what civil and criminal litigation the tenant may have been involved in and whether the tenant has disclosed thisAre you who you say you are.Do you and have you lived where you say you have lived.Do you have landlord references.Do you and have you worked where you say you have worked.Do you earn what you say you earn.Can we see your recent bank statements (reasonable redactions ok).Can we visit you in your current residence. 

The IDFPR may “refuse to issue or renew a license, may place on probation, suspend, or revoke any license, reprimand, or take any other disciplinary or non-disciplinary action as the Department may deem proper or impose a fine not to exceed $25,000 upon any licensee under this Act . . . for any one or combination of” the grounds for discipline set forth in §20-20 of the Act, 225 ILCS 454/20-20.Additionally, a licensee may be subject to both civil penalties and criminal liability for the unlicensed practice of real estate brokerage: Any person who practices, offers to practice, attempts to practice, or holds oneself out to practice as a real estate broker, real estate salesperson, or leasing agent without being licensed under this Act shall, in addition to any other penalty provided by law, pay a civil penalty to the Department in an amount not to exceed $25,000 for each offense as determined by the Department. 225 ILCS 454/20-10(a).     

The purchase agreement should layout a time frame to complete some of these "due diligence" items.You will need a boundary survey and title commitment to verify there are no liens or encumberances on the property.You will want to hire a geotechnical engineer to verify the soil is suitable for building an apartment building.You will need an environmental engineer to make sure there are no contaminants (asbestos, mercury, lead, etc.) on the site, as well as wetlands and/or endagered speices.If you need to rezone the property we may want to consult an attorney and/or civil engineer to help with that.Depending on how many units you intend to build the city may require a traffic study be completed to determine the impacts to the streets and intersections.This is typically how we start a new site and it is a very general list of items.

How much time and money are you looking to spend in litigation? 

But use an attorney- don’t try to litigate this without one. 

As messed up as it sounds, if they make claims that they have legal rights to the property, the police could just refer it as a civil matter.

How should we approach people and let them know about creative financing so that we don't put ourselves into appearing like consultants and getting into possible litigation?

So in a very civilized manner, I asked him why he voted for Obama and his answer was classic, "Because I like him".

Some states even have a slush fund set up with $50K per agent to draw on for legal assistance should it go to litigation.