How to screen potential adopters or buyers?

They do a lot of interviewing and background checks. We once were about to adopt a beautiful Shiba Inu GSD mix from a woman living in PA (we live in NJ). She went as far as asking us to provide three people as references and she wouldn't put any of her pups in any house that had kids under 6 years of age. She also went to every household to check things out before everything was official. I was a bit peeved at everything this woman did, but now I realize she only wanted the best for her dogs. I respect that.