She's new and is not very trusting. 

You aren't necessarily paying for just their expertise, but how they are connected with the city and who the board trusts and are used to. 

So here is the scenario....Utility bill comes to my address (these specific utilities are in my name), I pay for them so that they are on time with no late fee.

You seem to have confused the security afforded by a Mortgage or Deed-of-Trust with a Deed-in-Lieu, @Gail Greenberg .

I’ve seen that work once trust is established and you’ve shown proof of concept.

@Ike Ekeh I agree this is a tough question to address and you'll get varying answers.

I search the county records and the owner's address is listed as the properties address.

When I fired a contractor earlier this year, he wanted me to make the final check to someone else. i insisted on writing a check to him, with the memo stating it was for work on the specific address and that the work was paid for in full.

Of course I don’t trust mgrs to source proper tenants, but that’s the doing of my business’s mentor from back in the day.

I search the county records and the owner's address is listed as the properties address.