This is pretty much the standard operating procedure for non-profit housing entities, like Habitat For Humanity, they often employ a trial period before settlement and financing.

I'm looking for any help I can get on finding deals in my market, so I thought about signing up for the "free" trial but yelp has a ton of horror stories. 

Other counties will have similar procedures with some variation expected.http://www.fayettecountyga.gov/courts/magistrate_court/pdf/BadChecksGuidelines.pdf

I honestly wish I had discovered BP sooner as I have had to learn many lessons through trial & error (ie the hard way).With my career in O&G, I have lived in 6 locations in the last 10 years.

or a variation of it and 90% of the answers are "Try Wholesaling!".

Vacant or improved, the process and consequences are identical.Each State can have variation, especially in the time line, but:unpaid tax billings will produce a some point create a Tax Lien on the property, not the owner.after X years, the existing owner will get a Notice of Tax Sale and a date of the auctionIf the property is sold, the "punishment" is loss of the property and I've been told, there's no reporting to a Credit agency. 

After the 1st free 7-day trial, it's $50 per month.

@Jan WanotI'm also against any Guru courses or seminars - you would be far better off taking that money and learning through education/trial and error with a real transaction or bringing a deal to an experienced investor and offering them half to take you through the entire process.

There's a number of landlord specific programs that offer free trials so you can definitely try before you buy with most of them.Whatever you choose, it's difficult to move from a platform once you are into it.  

Afterall, you are managing your properties.I actually use some variation of that myself with a name followed by "Property Management".