It depends on your climate, you might do an energy audit or just switch to electric, it doesn't seem too out of line for four units though $35 ish dollars per month depending on the size of the unit and how much they use the climate control.

However, this strategy has been used successfully (without IRS challenge) by numerous property owners for nearly 20 years, including many public companies that have reported their transactions to the SEC, with the full acquiescence of their boards and outside auditors.

If it's already getting into closing, the taxes should be paid out of proceeds of the seller.If there is not enough money in sales price - it's a lien on the house anyway.Maybe to call sheriff department of that county and auditor?

Be careful though not all auditors are created equal like anything else. 

After locating a few properties, I used the county auditor to locate the owners.

But since then the auditor determine only half of the items needed to be fixed and were now my deductible.

This means your purchase price will end up on the auditors website, most likely a month or two later.

Hello BP,I am looking at a short sale and have looked through the documents on the auditor's website and found something interesting.

You could check the property owner records on your county auditor's site...but assuming many people have the same name, that might prove difficult, unless you have some other identifying info that would ensure you got the right person.

Have you tried the rental registration page for that property on the auditor's site?