I am also a Realtor, so I have MLS access and courthouse retrieval to look at comps.

I haven't but on a MFH I would require the buyer place those funds in escrow and there would be a very high threshold for them retrieving those funds if they backed out - i.e. it would have to be some breach of agreement by me or significant failure to disclose.

The wife called to say the husband had his girlfriend and her son move in while she was away and put her belongings in the garage for her to retrieve at her convenience.

I've read people will put the signs up Friday afternoon and retrieve the signs on Sunday, less likely for code enforcement to see the signs.

Is there anything I can do to retrieve the rent?

Obviously, you will be lost without a working knowledge your probate laws concerning sale of real estate.Alternatively, once you know what info you want from each file, you can either train someone to pull the info (custom, to your specs) or perhaps find a local researcher who already pulls much of the same data for other clients (which may include credit companies, heir finders, etc.).More and more jurisdictions are providing online access to cases, however I'm not aware of any (yet) that make data concerning PR's and heirs' addresses available (for privacy reasons, no doubt).I used commercial, professional probate researches on and off for about twenty years and have come to this conclusion: it's never as good as data that you've pulled yourself but it's certainly a better use of my time.Irrespective of the methods or strategies that you employ to pull data, you will also need a way to store and retrieve the info on your end as well know what to say when talking to a personal rep.I called on a yellow letter that I received as a PR (admin) once and the sender was totally unprepared for my call.

He not only gave me a CMA he prepared for his client seven (7) months ago, which has errors in itself, but he did not take the time to retrieve the last three (3) to (6) months of appropriate and similar comps for the subject property he was trying to sell me.

As a starting kernel, there may be some recorded memorandum of this agreement by and between the benefited and burdened parcels that you can retrieve from the County Recorder's office and evaluate initially.  

That would allow you to refinance and retrieve your initial 250k out of pocket to reinvest it into the next property.

Another number used for filling out forms, used for "throw away" purposes - for my second number I use the phone number to retrieve calls for my cell phone carrier.