I'm a bit late but want to reach out to the community to see what might be my best bets to get my money back (file judgement, etc.).

The website 51west.properties also scores low on scam advisor ("owner is using a service to hide their identity, high number of suspicious websites on the server, registrar has a high % of spammers and fraud sites, website is (very) young, website appears to be hosted by a company with a bad reputation", all according to https://www.scamadviser.com/check-website/51west.properties...)Trust your instincts. 

I'm getting to a point where I might want to pursue a lender for future investments but am trying to understand how these lenders choose people to work with.These types of lenders are called "Hard Money" because they are not betting on the borrower. 

@Jeremy C.I looked at their (JLL's) website and see that they have a history dating back to 1783 in London England and have offices in DE, MS, DC, & VA.

But you can look up vacancy rates on websites like rentcafe or rentometer.  

@Sham Haile you should look up the Tenants Union & RHAWA websites to review the notices and requirements for how notices need to be provided to tenants when a seller intends to sell a property. 

Therefore, I try to find a more user friendly web site that can distill the above into something that is readable.  

@Bijan SabbaghiYou don’t that’s the challenge - we pull data from several places as a note holder and for example and currently we see less than 20% actually going to foreclosure as most are ending in bankruptcy right now due to borrowers equityThe ones that are under water are typically going back to the bank.Best bet is to find properties where deceased or maybe divorced to get higher chance of actually going to foreclosure

Also, doing your own research on newly renovated or constructed homes that have recently sold in the area on Zillow or similar websites can be a good first step as well. 

My bet is they won't be happy about it.