They still do many things (escrow funds, transactional processing compliance (Accredited Investor Verification, Know Your Customer (KYC) Checks, Anti Money Laundering (AML) Checks, Investor Suitability Checks, Transact Offerings, bad actor checks), due diligence, data retention, etc.

The person John Smith, would need to provide a "certificate of Trust" this is the document that legally gives him the power to sell or do any actions of assets the trust owns.. which in this case is this piece of land.. one reason may be that the taxes aren't paid is the trustee does not have sufficient cash on hand to pay those and is waiting for as long as possible before taking out a loan or sells other assets to cover the taxes.good luck,  If the trustee can be located you can submit an offer and see what can be done but get verification, the "certificate of trust" that authorizes him to act on behalf of the trust. 

Check your purchase agreement usually the security deposits are transferred from original owner to you.this should include interest from the date of their move in. if not get the agent to figure out how to get that done.as @Ryan Murdock suggested a estoppel helps in getting verification of rent and deposit that the tenants have..I'd keep tenants on the month to month term as soon as you can give them new lease to sign with the rent increase. 

If their health bankrupted them once already, I'm not sure I would be able to to evict someone who can't pay me due to potentially deteriorating health.

She claimed she had covid and no money- yet I have  verification from her that she's on disability and that is not impacted with COVID.

I prefer to to have one lease that everyone is on.

If the tenant chooses to change this filter they need to provide the landlord with a receipt and verification of the change.It is more likely to be done if there is a charge attached to it.

If they are VERY professional, they will have their processes in writing as verification that policies are enforced equally and fairly by their entire staff.6.

What I said is that the data you always refer to to prove the 50% rule, comes from apartment buildings as single family owners do not report their expense items or ratios to the public.

in short, I think you can find a decent investment property anywhere, but there may be fewer opportunities in smaller cities and require further due diligence and rental verification.