There are always two sides to every story and I think that if you want details you should probably pick up the phone especially if someone has mentioned that they are more than open to have a conversation with you to answer all your questions. 

The current renter is paying 2600 for the whole house, but when fixed up a bit, the upstairs could likely fetch 2700 and the basement could probably get 12 or 1300.

Some people are growth-minded, which means they are willing to help for a low cost, or not much compensation knowing that the more conversations they have will lead to more clients.

The title agent has now reahced out to their attorney who will reach out to the foreclosure attorney to get a payoff amount and approval for the sale, but this "could take up to 10 days."

I just checked all my properties and they are still showing up in chronological order.

There's actually a good chance your overall "cash out" with the HELOC will be higher (most banks will go up to 90% vs 80% is generally the highest a cash-out will do) albeit at a higher interest rate, but you can protect the original mortgage rate if its very low (2020/2021 rates).Also consider the flexibility of only pulling on the HELOC when you need it thereby keeping expenses down.

If you aren't keeping up with the day to day activities in the proper manner I would start there. 

Quote from @Peter Tverdov: There are many popular social media posts right now portraying that DC homes are going up for sale all over the place because of DOGE cuts.

We just fixed up the house and have it on zillow with several applications in 24 hours. 

But from a moral & ethical perspective, you may want to decide at some point to just eat it and accept write it off as cost of doing business.