Regarding the bad people that would want to case the unit I always show my tenants during the tour the cameras I have all over the building monitoring outside and common areas at all times. 

Then I just monitored each week/weekend if they are avaliable for rent or not.

I would say most third party sites are good for getting a temperature reading of what's going on with your credit and for monitoring any new established credit in case you've ever dealt with fraud.

It seeks to create value through strategic low cost upgrades ✔3️⃣ VALUE ADDValue add Investments involve acquiring, renovating and repositioning properties to increase their value, such as adding amenities or increasing occupancy ☑In essence, to increase operating income, landlords can increase rental rates⬆, or increase rentable square footage ⬆, or reduce operating expenses ⬇.Monitoring operating expenses 🔍as a percentage of sales 💯 is a key metric for managing operating income and optimizing resources.

Some firms do some monitoring on utilities even.  

and that they are monitoring my situation closely and will work with the current PM. 

@Doris Jin HuangYes, we track & monitor as much as we can. 

Its advised to monitor any future damage and exterior water drainage.

However, using only EKM ($400/per metering system -Utility grade, accurate to 0.5%) was getting cost prohibitive in our application because we had over a half dozen electrical panels and subpanels to monitor as well as four different gas, and water lines to meter. 

I guess (the combination of the two) a vacation rental would work in SC but seems harder to monitor long distance.