If the investigator deems it has merit they will proceed but if not they will drop it.

I get 90% success in obtaining phone numbers and sometimes get their email.I do a preliminary investigation for what Zillow says the property is worth and look at the original note value.  

I'm in the early stages of investigating a move from the NYC area to California and a change of career to become a real estate broker.

They also use ResidentVerify so I know that when an application is screened that they are performing a criminal bg investigation on each prospective tenant along with a soft credit inquiry so I have everything I need to make informed decisions with very little effort.

I have been investigating as I said, sounds like you all ready have your feet wet!

As a new REI, and current Insurance Agent, I am really curious to know if anyone investigates their property loss history when analyzing deals. 

If an apt community has a 10% cash-on-cash return I'll investigate further.

It would be wise to investigate. 

Some smaller town governments can be inept or corrupt (the mayor of Muncie in under FBI investigation). 

HOA wrote to me that they hired 3 fence vendors to thoroughly investigate and extensively analyze the issues.