While on the phone with my county assessor's office, the nice lady said it appeared that the county owned the abandoned property but would have to do more digging.If this is the case, how would one go about putting an offer in on that property and would I even have a chance at getting a deal?

@Chris McCormack City's property assessor db -> locate building types and filter -> look at owners who have owned for longer -> look up their name on usphonebook (if it's an LLC go to the state site first to determine the owner) -> call the numbers listedThis is the only free way to do it, from my knowledge, and you can pay for the information in an easier format.

was like no, I want my deposit - rambled, interrupted, lied, etc... 

This is where my question lies.

I've messaged family and friends and have offered them good terms to loan the money as well, but nobody I know has 40k lying around. 

I had solid comps and cordially told the assessor I would appeal at the next public meeting. 

yeap ask.......and verify with them...ive never had anyone lie and said they were someone else....

Both tenants and seller said water issues were stopped (what a lie)  The picture above is my current project which is replacing a bunch of brick that were basically water damaged clay and simply would not hold the lime plaster (as a first time plasterer, it sucks especially with stuff they used in the late 1800s.

You never hear the tenant is facing triple damages, or missed a deadline or filled out the wrong form so they lose  I assume a landlord could get in trouble for lying to a tenant, how about other way around?

Many people mistakenly believe the SEV is 50% of the purchase price, but it is supposed to be the market value.Most cities have an Assessor that determines how much values have changed each year.