Im currently reading Donald Trumps book, “The Art of The Deal”.

.#6: Master the Art of the Contractor Stable: I have thrived as a Landlord in several out-of-state markets (Purchasing Homes that are 120 years old) and the biggest thing is knowing how to build a contractor stable and being able to read an Inspectors Report and ask the right questions.

. :-)"The Art of Saying No to Tenants" by Sue Kelly. 

It is also well known the NY Times has liberal bias.

Just wondering, is their an art to doing this, should I be getting them to fill out certain information before I show it to them, should I be screening them over the phone before agreeing to show the apartments?

Given that CA has a history of the most liberal possible application and interpretation of many laws, it would seem prudent to err on the side of caution.Specifically, HIPPA even limits what can be disclosed to an insurance company or a financially responsible party, unless it is for the sole purpose of getting a specific claim paid.  

Heck yeah you ought to take an attorney's advice into consideration when drafting a rental agreement and I'd HIGHLY recommend getting some referrals on that as well, you want one who's well versed LOCALLY in what flies and what doesn't, which here as was explained to myself and at least one other BP member attended, plus many more (and a rather "famous" BP member at that who I recognized from her profile pic, but she certainly seems to know what she's doing with rentals and was at the same event, a "landlord bootcamp" where the local attorney who I've been told is THE BEST landlord atty to call in a crisis taught the ins and outs of this stuff) but part of what he explained was how in Milwaukee Cty the judiciary of this county of nearly 1M residents which ranges from very poor areas to very wealthy areas has mostly very liberal, left leaning judges who generally ALWAYS find any reason they can to take the tenant's side and often give some awful tenants "one more chance" much to the landlord's chagrin.

Art, needs to be brought current. 

I think books like this will be the new darling of the liberal professors ( taking the place of books like Nickled & Dimed)  as our society is being told that no matter how many bad decisions you make including but not limited to failure to get the right education or job skills...having kids before you can afford them etc...housing is a RIGHT and an entitlement and at a price they think they should pay...it can't hurt to read a book like this to understand the changes that may be coming...might make an investor want to consider other options than buy and hold...forewarned is forearmed

Especially politiclly liberal places like SF and SM want to retain "affordable rentals."