Not to mention having to schedule it with the tenant who may or may not have any time for me other than after 7 or 8 when they get off work.Though I do have some owners who don't care if we hire criminals to do their work because they themselves are slumlords hiding behind property managers.

I invest with Family and friends all the time.The only difference is that I put my Family and Friends through the same rigorous process of due diligence as I do for my screening process of candidate tenants.Because you are buying together, I would be even more detailed and careful in your screening process for a partner.I pulled Credit, Criminal, Eviction, Income Verification, etc. on EVERYONE.

Basically I view the "justice" system as a criminal rights system.

If you are offered properties and they are not owned or the offeror is not licensed you SHOULD report the criminals here:http://www.myfloridalicense.com/dbpr/re/documents/...One give-away that these operators are not misinformed but rather criminals knowingly brokering without a license is the way they operate.

They're subject to criminal penalties for lying.Just remember, we live in a new world where law and order no longer exist, so these words may not be worth the paper they're printed on.

Fortunately, they were disqualified from my rental based on a criminal misdemeanor for one crime of a violent nature, along with the property not being available until the beginning of next month.

Sending a strong "no s**t" message is the quickest and most direct course of action when dealing with squatters/criminals.

And this assumes nothing is ripped off in the rental, I've had to replace furnaces the last few years from criminal mischief despite the rentals being in good areas.  

Furthermore, I would encourage the neighbors to call the police EVERYTIME they see something wrong.As I suggested originally, you need to know the criminal background on this person.

It is not ‘illegal’ as that means 'criminal'.