If you can't keep control of your personal finances, you are highly unlikely to succeed in real estate investing.

Factors that control this are the asset class, condition, neighborhood, etc.

You, the property owner have a choice of what type, deductible amounts, liability coverage amounts, and you even have some control over the value that the insurance company puts on for the property value.  

Actually, the property becomes part of the bankruptcy estate and the bankruptcy trustee controls the estate.

All of them offer check book control.  

While the neighborhoods and the buildings may be great to live in, the total lack of control does not fit me.

(out of control lawn, broken awning, looks like nobody has been home).So I decided to go to look up the property and see who owns the house and if the taxes have been paid.

Just like China.. anyone can do any real estate there.But as we know there Is a Robust real estate industry here that is licensed controlled etc.. with heavy emphasis on ethics'' and of course you have unethical realtors... you see that in the monthly bulletins with all the realtors getting reprimanded or losing their license.To me if you want to wholesale BUY THE HOME close on it then resell it.. its that simple.. trying to act like your not a REal estate broker and hide behind the quasi arguments that are touted on this site.. to me is just circumventing the industry and the law.there are brokers who specialize in cheap defunct properties as there is a lot of that inventory in all the hoods of America.

Dishwasher stopped working, he says, but when I get there I realize he somehow managed to rip the front pull handle and control board off the machine and broke the plastic. 

To quality control that and make sure your signs don't end up in a dumpster, give them clear instructions to take a picture on their phone of each sign they place.