Now granted some people are going to be helped by extra time that may prevent an actual foreclosure.

Following such an auction, what complications might arise that would prevent you from reselling the property?

A visual inspection to make sure that there is no slow leak (evidenced by corrosion) that would prevent it from working in the event of high temp or pressure is all I would recommend.

I found out that unpaid water bills in my county are lienable.To prevent something like this from ever happening, would it be a better strategy to: 1) have tenant put water in their name, check monthly whether the account is current 2) just keep the water in my name, bill the tenant monthly for it and have something in the lease about not paying the water bill is grounds for eviction?

Why would you give up 50 years of preventative care of the best medical care in the world, only to let problems compound in your body under lesser care until you needed to travel to another country for proper medical treatment?

My loan was through FHA, and the roof did not prevent me from from obtaining financing the home.

While history is important and some regulation is needed to prevent anarchy, it should be done at a local level accepted and implemented by locals rather than having layer upon layer upon layer of regulation such as is seen from local, to county, to state, to federal.

Can I get stipulations put in the lease agreement to prevent these things?

It isn't mandatory, but it can prevent some surprises from popping up.You can also consider trying to purchase from the current owner before auction.

These are the steps I take to prevent fuzzies.