You'd be able to see deposits/withdrawals that don't make sense when matched up to a credit report.Its easy to get fake pay stubs, less easy to make everything align month after month ....

Once we agree on the price, I would have my attorney draft a Purchase and Sale Agreement that outlines the price, the time frame for due diligence and a refundable earnest money deposit of usually 1% of the price going hard after 30 days of due diligence. 

I will be moving to a new town soon that has a much better market for me to invest in to kick off my journey in real estate.I have read alot here, but never came across something like this question.My current landlord claims she doesn't own a property I am renting, but she is the owner of this and many properties per tax assessors documents.She has avoided answering the question about where I send my new address a few times now causing me to dig up the public records.Am I about to get scammed out of my deposit?

Make sure all rent gets deposited into that bank account.5.

Drew,Get the lease, security deposits and any information on which appliances are owners and which are tenants. 

Deposited over $40K when I was done.

I would give them the opportunity to apply, passed my screening, pay a security deposit, and sign a written lease agreement.The security deposit from the daughter does not belong to the mother and should be treated separately, like you would for any other tenant that abandons a property.

If they move out and you have a pest problem, document it and take it out of their deposit.

I saw the dollar bills that tenants had in security deposit + first month's rents rather than their entire application.

No extra rent or deposit.