This way, if they think they are being sneaky by skipping out on the last months rent and using the security deposit as rent, they'll be surprised if they ever do remember. 

Check landlord references but skip the current one....go one back...assuming that they have rented before.  

@Erick Martinez I use different skip tracing websites like 411.com zabasearch.com TLO.com intelius.com 

I need to collect owed back rent from my tenant that did not pay May rent and skipped out on some utilities that we are responsible for, about $2000.He refused to give me a forwarding address, but I do know where his brother lives (next to the rental), where he works, and where is wife/soon-to-be ex-wife lives.Has anybody has success with either?

Seems like you are leaning towards keeping the tenants, I would be sure to explain this to the tenants, normally you increase rent each year to keep up with rising costs (use an example like cost of milk or eggs in the grocery store or something) but since they are such good tenants you are going to skip this year. 

I would recommend including the utilities in the rent so you have control, or least water/electrical, since students are notorious for skipping town on the last bills which then get added to your tax bill.  

You can either do a search in the public records in your area using the addresses of the properties or you can do a skip trace.

Would you skip the real estate agent step and invest all your time into the rentals?

Or as Marco suggested, buy it fixed up for $70k and skip the painful part.

When I see a property offering memorandum on a property, I skip over the brokers analysis and their, "modified actuals" and proceed to ask for the real numbers so I can do my own analysis."