After the nasty situation I described in #3 above, I also listen much more carefully for little red flags.

On another forum, I posted a question about finding a red wire when trying to hang ceiling fans in a 50's house.That's helpful but I'm finding current on the red/white wires, not the black/ground. 

First thing I did was reset the circuit breaker, still no hot water so I hit the red reset button on the upper element.

Steve I go to the Cape every year, stay at the Red Jacket.  

Give them a call if you need some work done.The Red is the Waterproofing membrane that I put on before he started tiling...Finally after about 3 months of working on and off, getting the plumbers to work, tile guy to do his job, and us to build, paint, insulate, level and shim, we ended up with a final product which we are really proud of.

I could have sunk myself on my first deal if I hadn't had red flags go off and come here for advice.

I questioned it, he got red in the face repeated him self told me to call corporate and walked off.

They both would likely show any red flags that need to be waived, just the smart move showed more details about the accounts opened and number of ontime payments, open date etc and current and prior addresses associated with their credit...

If there is evidence of significantly more cracks under load bearing walls, that would be a red flag.  

Match the landlord to the address and if they skipped one, that's a red flag.