Nothing is foolproof, however, so carry a good umbrella policy -

This is (almost) a fool proof plan.I am developing and equating this strategy to make it absolutely 100% fool proof.

I have a 100% fool proof solution for this.

One thing my friend had was a plan, he never moved on to the next step until he had a plan... doesn’t need to be a foolproof plan just one that you can execute.

There's no foolproof way to know for sure if a house is vacant anyway, save for maybe checking for an installed electric meter or monitoring water usage.

But he warned me it's not fool proof, the seller can choose not to sell, and wait me out.

While credit scores aren't foolproof and they may disqualify some poor credit candidates who would've paid rent,  it's necessary in order to avoid the odds of getting into a bad tenant situation where they can cost you months of rent.

Do I think anyone has a fool proof way to do that?

It's not foolproof as the deed is not always recorded immediately, but if you say it has been weeks I'd check before doing too much other work.

That said, furnished was less interesting for folks with furniture already, but the "partial" angle worked well enough to not detract from that larger market that already had their own stuff (so you could stow a few favorites)....You can even get a checklist for move in with furnishings that, while not fool proof, can help the tenant see there is some accountability at move out.