I am challenged by your courage to give up security and dive head first into real estate.I could totally relate to your dad saying, "not to trade security for uncertainty".That is the mantra of typical Asian parents, especially 1st generation immigrants.  

Hard to believe as almost all banks employ field service companies to verify and enforce that the property is secure until closing.

If I'm building the list some other way (e..g, I'm driving for dollars) I look it up in public records to see if the last sale date is 15 years or more in the past.

In my opinion, it's a secure and reliable way to get started in the real estate field while starting to build some nice equity.

Here we have 2 weeks to return remaining security deposit.  

No public water or sewer is available yet on that side.

I'm guessing $250-300 per month for electric and $75 per month for water/sewer, based on public information and experience.  

The previous owner did not have/give up security deposits.

Now tenant is suing for security deposit because of the charges I applied to security deposit.

Part of me wants to secure the property and sell it, i think this would be a easy sell.