I guess I am missing a part of the puzzle here.Is there anything that would prevent a short sale on a foreclosed property?

I know there is no fail-safe way to garner profit, but whatever I can do to help prevent losing it will be done.

The exception to that would be if you listed it as not maintained in the lease or if your best efforts prevented you from going like to like and thus you had to go reasonable equivalent.

Hard to prevent or pinpoint who brought them to building, but any suggestions on minimizing that from happening again?  

He will be shortly leaving a high pay stable job (military pilot) for a low paying (40k/yr) job and it looks like this transition might be preventing him from qualifying for a cash out refi.

REOs are sold free and clear... or at least that is the bank's intention when putting the property on the market.If a title issue appears that prevents a transfer (these things do happen) the bank either remedies the problem before closing or, if the bank cannot perform, the buyer rightfully receives a refund of earnest money. 

Yes they have in-house handyman which seems like a bit of a conflict in interest.They have no incentive to prevent turnovers.The utilities- it’s not just water/sewer that is $437.  

Any strategy to prevent this kind of thing? 

I am not a fear monger but what happens if there is a cyber attack, or EMP that prevents us from accessing that money. 

(for both the sales floor and for employee areas, for purposes of loss prevention)  Does "smile, you're on camera" really mean "please sue me as I am exposing myself to liability" in the state of NJ?