Regardless, California landlords will have to be much more vigilant in their tenant vetting process, and not overly dependent on the paid screening services.

The main way I keep track of what is happening locally is to set up keyword alerts.

If you are replacing the main service as well, they need to pull a temporary pole as noted by @Aaron McGinnis or use a generator.

Looking at a potential real estate investment and I have all the cash flows (after debt service) and anything else I would need I am just lost on a couple of things I am being asked for...

I mainly invest locally in Stockbridge, GA area.

For example, someone calls in and you chat with them to find that they may not be interested in selling right then at your price for whatever reason, however over the next several months their motivation may change so a follow-up system should most certainly be in place to touch base with them again and again.On top of that, be sure you are finding 'why' they called in the first place because your main goal should be to solve their problem before all else as this will inevitably lead to closing deals.

Even if I was able to find someone, I would likely be paying one month's rent for the service, which means thousands of dollars.

If he is legit, then he shouldnt need anything from you up front (maybe a small $100 application fee at most)Use an escrow service.  

The bureaus will allow payment services to report though so here is a link for the ones that currently report to Experian:https://www.experian.com/rentbureau/rental-reporti...I have heard of Rental Kharma that charges a fee to report just your payment but that doesn't include any payment processing.  

My main concern at starting all this is talking to people.