So much depends on your intended move out date since you said you're moving out faster than expected.

If it gets rented the owner will update the listing with a new available date; if this moves by 30 days or more you can reasonably assume it was rented.

Then it is up to your tenants to stop by and deposit the rent money/check in the account by a certain date.  

Educate the land owner on the potential profit run the numbers and go over the basic proxy and blue prints.Make sure you have a seasoned and qualified Builder/GC because they can be a deal killer with wasted time and inflated material and extended completion dates.

(B) A purchase agreement may provide that in the event of a dispute regarding the disbursement of the earnest money, the broker will return the money to the purchaser without notice to the parties unless, within two years from the date the earnest money was deposited in the broker's trust or special account, the broker has received one of the following:(1) Written instructions signed by both parties specifying how the money is to be disbursed;(2) Written notice that a court action to resolve the dispute has been filed.

A few notes on your comment to this aged post thread to shed some additional light since you don't know much about us...Aloha Capital has funded over 3,000 loans since 2015 on nearly 1 billion of residential investment properties and to date has ~ 0.4% default rate.

I suspect the person who originally turned it into a fiveplex only applied for permits to make a fourplex and then did the 5th unit fly by night (perhaps at a later date) in order so the property would still be considered residential and allow for better financing possibilities.

To date all I've received is email communications from the sponsors stating the deal failed.

In other words, you would have already invested thousands prior to the auction just to research the properties and their titles.What is your recommendation because without doing a proper title search (which sometimes takes weeks and passes the auction date), how would you know if what you're buying is a good investment?

I guess we'll keep an eye out for any changes in the Jan. 13, 2025 date.