I am also employeed by a government agency as an accountant/auditor, a field some day will like to leave behind :).

If some experienced tax defaulted property investor would consider providing me some of their tricks of the trade, I would like some help knowing how best to sort and filter the tax defaulted properties from county tax agencies.

I know each state is different, but definitely check with the board or regulatory agency that oversees contractors in your state to see if the contractor you're considering has any complaints or pending action against them.

check with your state RE Licencing agency its only those folks that can tell  you one way or the other .. remember bp is just a peanut gallery when it comes to this issue

Tomorrow (Monday) contact a Title Agency in the are you are looking to work, they should give you an escrow account number.

I also volunteer regularly and am interested in your agency. 

Anything posted by news agencies is generally to induce either fear or a frenzy so try not to read to much into them its more or less BS 90% of the time.

I don't think a lending agency will loan me money to buy my own home due to my lack of job history however I will have this settlement money and was thinking a rental unit paid for in cash might help generate some income for me.Any thoughts?

Even if you pay it off same-day, you have no idea if that day is coincidentally when the creditor updates your balance with the credit reporting agencies for the month.... and then your FICO is down for a month. 

My question is if a person becomes an agent do they not have to be aligned with an agency?