Outstanding and very professional advice that I can arm myself with to be better at real estate.

Well, of course, get an inspection done and make sure the Turnkey Provider address all outstanding issues within reason.

You can't buy a house or get a loan with an outstanding judgment lien in the same county.  

Ok, so I've been debating this all day and I need some help from the community.I have a married couple who want to rent one of my units and they seem very nice, but they have a checkered past with Credit.Here is the scenario:- Apartment for Rent $1500 / Mo- 3 Bed / 1 BA- No kids, no pets, non-smokers- Class B Property- On market for 2 weeks, multiple showings with only 1 applicant (husband/wife)- Wife has superb credit, 800 FICO, no outstanding debt/loans, Income $70K- Husband has good Income $90K, but credit is an issue.  

The tenant requested and has received grant assistance, but there is still an outstanding balance of $150, only about 9% of the total SD.  

For what its worth, if a customer in the non RE world is way over their terms, you don't immediately stop sending them goods, because that's a great way to almost guarantee you don't get paid your outstanding trade credit terms.

This is very bad for landlords as they will no be left with no security deposit at the end of lease term with which to cover any repairs to home caused by tenant or any outstanding rent/utilities. 

Is there anyway I can check to see if the leins are still outstanding or have been paid back?

You should ask the water company to deduct out of the bill the sewer charge because they never made it to the drains for treatment, that should be on top of whatever consideration they gave you for the water leak.You may also be able to work something out with the water company so the outstanding balance can be paid over a period of time.It may be necessary for your tenant to call since the name on the account is not you. 

Add the value add, cash flow from rent appreciation, the property appreciation, and the equity paydown and coastal So Cal buy n hold has historically produced outstanding return for the buy n hold RE investors (especially the ones doing value adds).I suspect in Fresno it may be slightly easier (but still a challenge) to find a property with positive cash flow but it likely will not initially be great for the amount invested (it is likely to be poor for the amount invested).