Everyone pushes this Red Flag deal with selling all this programs and snake oil books, and I have never heard of anyone going to jail or paying a fine, and most auto dealers don't follow the Red Flag they have their own in house compliance.

if you find a lender who doesn't understand this or is really pushy to let them pull your credit, that is a red flag to me.If you had to time, you could shop for a loan while you shop for a home / real estate agent. 

My PM felt the house was clean and nothing raised a red flag on inspection.

(which seemed awesome at the time but in retrospect should have been a red flag).

Festus,There are a few red flags that stick out in your description. 

The biggest red flag for me is the fact the woman there said something else was causing a leak and gave specifics of the cause and it fits the damage and time frame. 

Just one peace of advice I’d give you before you start your journey and this isn’t to discourage you but just to realistic, after reading your post it’s seem like you have a lot going on in your life right now and a lot of financial stress, real estate is a long game but it also comes with risk & unexpected upfront costs for instance a duplex a bought which was great deal, not only required a significant down payment, but within two months of buying it, the well on the property (we had an inspection and while it was flagged as old it was supposed to last another 5 years minimum) failed not only did it fail it pumped sand into the pipes and required a repipe, was out 25k now as painful as that was I had the cash and it cash flows 1k a month has appreciated significantly & the well will last 50+ years and now it’s done, but my point is you have to have money not only to buy but stay in the game, so I’d definitely get your financial house in order & accumulate some savings before you buy.

Couple of quick flags:1.  

When you see any company or investor that specializes in tactics that have the underlying purpose of evading or getting around the usual and customary red flags should pop up, rockets should be bursting in the air and sirens should be blaring.Why are they using trusts?

These are all red flags.