so I pulled a code violation list for my county and about 600 of the 10k violations say that the houses are vacant in the description of the violation.

Based on your description, it sounds like there are way too many roadblocks between you and generating a decent return with this property.  

I read pro-formas all the time that try to juice the descriptions of the property.

In the description it says The loan is currently in arrears and the lender has agreed to forbear foreclosure to allow a sale of the property subject to the existing loan.

Your property description, deed or pud doesn't designate to house as "student housing", that's what you're calling it. 

@Daniel RheeList Source is good for narrowing down a list of specific properties with criteria such as age of owner, % of equity, mortgage date, etc... but what List Source won't provide is a description of the property.

Can you give me a brief description regarding your comment, please?

This will generally be easy, but from your description you might have a setback, zoning appearance, or storm drainage problem also.

The common street address is is not the legal description. 

It will also have the property legal description and any exceptions to the title policy.