Do some digging on your landlord. Just as you'll have to fork over some references, you should know something about the property owner you're renting from. Go to the search engines and look for anything fishy. Alex Freeburg, an attorney in Jackson, Wyoming, specializes in tenant-landlord conflicts and says it’s wise to know whether the person who will receive your rent check has money problems.
"One of my clients had the landlord keep their damage deposit," Freeburg says. "If they had checked the public records available on the county website, they would have seen that the landlord had a lien against their property and was in financial trouble."
You can't argue with his logic, although it's difficult to imagine being thorough enough to pore through a landlord's public records. But if you at least read the lease, you won't just rent a home – you'll buy some peace of mind.