I know there can be a huge tendency to say "the check is in the mail" and then lose several days in transit time before you discover that wasn't the case.

Of the Index’s three components, (1) current sale conditions rose 6 points to 84. (2) Sales expectations (in the next six months) increased 3 points to 78, and (3) buyer traffic jumped 8 points to 65, its highest level in the history of the survey.

If it is discovered the damages are the caused by the direct actions of the tenant, or the tenant's occupants or guests, the repair expense belongs to the tenant and is added to their account for payment, in addition to the rent, and should be outlined as such in the lease.

And I understand that I would discover those liens by ordering a full title search on all the properties. 

On a personal note, I think most of us got into real estate because we discovered there is money to be made, enough to go around, and we wanted a part of that for ourselves.

In the process of trying to sell the house to our tenant, we discovered extensive damage to the house because of the synthetic stucco material. 

For those who can forgo monthly cash flow the purchase and long horizon sales of appreciating assets is huge as you've discovered.  

having a lender in the mix would complicate the scheme as presumably title would discover that the bogus warranty or quitclaim deed was not recorded concurrently with a reconveyance from the "seller's" lender. 

Later we discovered bigger pockets. 

But, I just re-read your post and it sounds like this was discovered after the fact.