Yes  I think the best move here is to asses your total monthly debt and see if a cash out refi will help decrease the total interest and monthly debt obligation.

I ultimately invested $65 cash, $5k in legal fees, and $9.7k in operational expenses while owning the home, and walked away with $17.3k after a judgement.What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

In my case I sold off appreciated properties in a location I deemed as having limited future upside, and used the proceeds to eliminate all debt on the better located prime properties I wanted to keep long term.

Legal violations and penalities(fines) even if you have accounting software to track the difference. 

Hundreds of hours spent listening to podcasts and reading books on and off during that time kept the dream alive and prepared me to take the leap when an opportunity came up.I had received my real estate license about a year earlier to make some extra money but we were hitting a point in our debt and near future expenses that I knew I had to step out and make something happen.

If you are hiring a legal licensed contractor , he will provide you with a contract . 

Ultimately it will depend on the property (banks perform stress test-debt ratio)-but I think 5 year term is what I found so far.

If they had not moved out, i would have brought in the best attorney available and charged the tenant for the legal costs.  

The AP has to be open, notorious and hostile...those terms have a legal meaning and essentially it is that you as the owner have been fully deprived of your right to the property.Absent those items above, it sounds like at best they have another legal right which is a "prescriptive easement".

Considering it's from a reputable auction site, do I have decent legal standing if they misrepresent it?