As for short term rentals, most condo buildings will have restrictions/bylaws indicating that the minimum length of a rental is 30 days, 6 months or even 1 year and some buildings will even limit the number of units that can be rented at any given time.

School ratings are also an important indicator.

The ride up on the stock market indicates we are headed towards a correction.

I can then see their cancelled check (or indication that it's cash) online. 

(In Case of Emergency) Surviving Family Residents:It is a great idea from the very start of the rental application process to have the applicant indicate who you should contact in case of an emergency.

The ability to learn from someone who does what you want to do, but a step or three further down the path, is precious.I would recommend that you find someone that is a leader in the community (someone you see stepping up in a local REIA meeting, adding value on BiggerPockets, or otherwise doing things in your local market that would indicate their ethos is aligned with adding value. 

Leaching field is the same as a drain field  The water in is a pretty good indication of output though  What about the designer though?

The market indicators are also solid benchmarks to be paying attention to. 

Last thing I would want is to pay this Seller his money only to find out down the road that I don't have clear title, but if I knew for a fact that signing at the embassy/consulate wasn't needed, that would definitely simplify things a little bit.Aside from that, though, like I mentioned above, the other issue I'm dealing with is that when closing docs were already sent to the Seller (with a pre-paid return courier label) he claimed that he didn't receive them, despite tracking info indicating otherwise. 

@Luke H.I've had this discussion with my CA PM a couple of times and he has indicated to me (as noted various times above) that after 7 years it's going to take something pretty egregious to justify withholding deposit money.