Is there a way to prevent this if so? 

Any stains on the walls, ceilings?

Some old water stains from water leaks that had been fixed but the ceiling not completely repaired was the only real thing I say.Other things that happened: Water line broke in a vacant unit flooding two units.

Just make sure you have a solid buyer and enough time to prevent the house going into auction. 

I hear so many different things from people online it just keeps me confused and prevents me from taking the "next step".

Whereas with a car- you could sell the car and STILL have debt.You could always do a mix of both- pay a HUGE down payment to have a bigger buffer between the home value and the mortgage + have a lower monthly payment.Regardless- even though it may be preventing you from buying RE at THIS MOMENT- you are doing a great job financially being completely out of consumer debt!

Looking to rebound and I hope BiggerPockets will prevent me from making another bad choice.I’m starting to evaluate multi family homes.

I wonder if they used a perforated pipe without the sock on it... my understanding is these usually have some crushed rock over a perforated pipe with the liner over it to prevent dirt plugging it up.

My standard, I think, is SAND, STAIN, and 2 COATS OF POLY. 

They have already decided they have no intention of paying so you need to move as quickly as possible to evict to prevent losing money.