and the ones who sell outdated, illegal, or dangerous info to unsuspecting people.

It is littered with folks with little or no real estate training outside an overpriced one day seminar; those that don't disclose to both parties the risks of double-closings - or even that there will be a double closing; non-refundable "deposits" in addition to Earnest Money Deposits; absurd ARVs and comps; wild *** guesses for repair costs; offering MLS listed properties to unsuspecting newbies; etc, etc.  

My personal feeling is if you have roughly $1000 in cash flow/mo ($4000 rent- $2500 expenses -$500 for the unsuspected), fix up the house to avoid any major headaches while your gone, but rent it to a stable tenant (maybe a family).In my mind, If you have done a good job of preparing/updating the house cost effectively and find a very solid tenant, you should have no problem being gone at least a year and that extra $1000 dollars a month will go very far in helping you start a free lance career...etcAnd, on top of that, there is nothing suggesting the Southern Cali market will be dropping anytime soon, so if you decide to sell a year from now, you will have an extra 6-8% appreciation based on all current predictions.  

I've heard of unrecorded leins popping up for unsuspecting buyers even after a title search.

There are people out there who make a living out of screwing over unsuspecting and inexperienced landlords by working the system.

Covertly taking pictures of people - not to mention involving unsuspecting minors in this activity -could lead to serious trouble, especially when trying to actually use these pictures to prove something.Observe on your own, with your own eyes, preferably with a witness.

A lot of tenants will try to play this game to get as much time out of unsuspecting landlords.Its best to return the partial payment to the tenant by certified mail or FEDEX/UPS if its not already been cashed, and then continue on with the initial eviction order.

How they turn profit off unsuspecting newbies.

Find the unsuspecting homeowner that doesn't know the true potential of his/her property. 

In addition, I don't see many institutional firms attempting to sell their inferior interest in the open market as it is problematic and bad press.All that makes me want to conclude this is more of a private firm or person specifically looking to take advantage of an unsuspecting buyer.There is a little speculation on the existing mortgage which is causing the hold up.